Roman Imperial Army
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The Imperial Roman Army was the military
land force An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
of the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
from 27 BC to 476 AD, and the final incarnation in the long history of the
Roman army The Roman army () served ancient Rome and the Roman people, enduring through the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), and the Roman Empire (27 BC–AD 1453), including the Western Roman Empire (collapsed Fall of the W ...
. This period is sometimes split into the
Principate The Principate was the form of imperial government of the Roman Empire from the beginning of the reign of Augustus in 27 BC to the end of the Crisis of the Third Century in AD 284, after which it evolved into the Dominate. The principate was ch ...
(27 BC – 284 AD) and the
Dominate The Dominate is a periodisation of the Roman Empire during late antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was p ...
(284–476) periods. Under
Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...
(), the army consisted of legions, eventually and also '' numeri''. By the end of Augustus' reign, the imperial army numbered some 250,000 men, equally split between 25 legions and 250 units of auxiliaries. The numbers grew to a peak of about 450,000 by 211, in 33 legions and about 400 auxiliary units. By then, auxiliaries outnumbered legionaries substantially. From this peak, numbers probably underwent a steep decline by 270 due to plague and losses during multiple major invasions by the Germanic Tribal Folk. Numbers were restored to their early 2nd-century level of c. 400,000 (but probably not to their 211 peak) under
Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...
(r. 284–305). After the Empire's borders became settled (on the
Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
-
Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
line in Europe) by AD 68, virtually all military units (except the
Praetorian Guard The Praetorian Guard (Latin language, Latin: ''cohortes praetoriae'') was the imperial guard of the Imperial Roman army that served various roles for the Roman emperor including being a bodyguard unit, counterintelligence, crowd control and ga ...
) were stationed on or near the borders, in roughly 17 of the 42
provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...
of the empire in the reign of
Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...
(r. 117–138).


History


Background

The army of the late Republic that Augustus took over on becoming sole ruler of the Empire in 27 BC consisted of a number of large (5,000-strong) formations called legions, which were composed exclusively of heavy infantry. The legion's light infantry (''
velites ''Velites'' (; : ) were a class of infantry in the Roman army of the mid-Republic from 211 to 107 BC. ''Velites'' were light infantry and skirmishers armed with javelins (), each with a 75cm (30 inch) wooden shaft the diameter of a finger, with ...
'') which had been deployed in earlier times (see
Roman army of the mid-Republic The Roman army of the mid-Republic, also called the manipular Roman army or the Polybian army, refers to the armed forces deployed by the mid-Roman Republic, from the end of the Samnite Wars (290 BC) to the end of the Social War (91–88 BC), So ...
), had been phased out as had its contingent of cavalry. Legions were recruited from Roman citizens only (i.e., from Italians and inhabitants of Roman colonies outside Italy), by regular conscription, although by 88 BC, a substantial proportion of recruits were volunteers. To remedy the deficiencies in capability of the legions (heavy and light cavalry, light infantry, archers and other specialists), the Romans relied on a motley array of irregular units of allied troops, both composed of subject natives of the empire's provinces (called the ''
peregrini In the early Roman Empire, from 30 BC to AD 212, a ''peregrinus'' () was a free provincial subject of the Empire who was not a Roman citizen. ''Peregrini'' constituted the vast majority of the Empire's inhabitants in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. ...
'' by the Romans) and of bands supplied, often on a mercenary basis, by Rome's allied kings beyond the Empire's borders. Led by their own aristocrats and equipped in their own traditional fashion, these native units varied widely in size, quality and reliability. Most would only be available for particular campaigns before returning home or disbanding.


Establishment

On gaining undisputed mastery over the Roman empire in 27 BC,
Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...
(sole rule 27 BC – AD 14) was left with an army which was bloated by extraordinary recruitment for the
Roman civil wars This list of Roman civil wars and revolts includes civil wars and organized civil disorder, revolts, and rebellions in ancient Rome (Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic, and Roman Empire) until the fall of the Western Roman Empire (753 BC – AD 476). ...
and at the same time lacking a suitable organisation for the defence and expansion of a vast empire. Even after disbanding most of his defeated adversary
Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman people, Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the Crisis of the Roman Republic, transformation of the Roman Republic ...
's legions, Augustus had 50 legions under his command, composed exclusively of
Roman citizens Citizenship in ancient Rome () was a privileged political and legal status afforded to free individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance. Citizenship in ancient Rome was complex and based upon many different laws, traditions, and cu ...
i.e., by that time, of Italians and inhabitants of Roman colonies outside
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. Alongside these were a mass of irregular non-Italian allied units whose command, size and equipment varied greatly. Some allied units came from provinces within the empire, others from beyond the imperial borders.


Legions

The first priority was to reduce the number of legions to a sustainable level. Fifty legions implied too high a recruitment burden for a male citizen-body only about two-million strong, especially as Augustus intended to create a long-term career force. The Emperor retained just over half his legions, disbanding the rest and settling their
veterans A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...
in no less than 28 new Roman colonies. The number of legions remained close to that level throughout the Principate (varying between 25 and 33 in number). Unlike the Republican legions, which were, in theory at least, temporary citizen-levies for the duration of particular wars, Augustus and his right-hand man
Agrippa Agrippa may refer to: People Antiquity * Agrippa (mythology), semi-mythological king of Alba Longa * Agrippa (astronomer), Greek astronomer from the late 1st century * Agrippa the Skeptic, Skeptic philosopher at the end of the 1st century * Ag ...
clearly envisioned their legions as permanent units composed of career professionals. Under the late Republic, a Roman citizen ''iunior'' (i.e. male of military age: 16–46 years) could legally be required to serve a maximum of sixteen years in the legions and a maximum of six years consecutively. The average number of years served was about ten. In 13 BC, Augustus decreed sixteen years as the ''standard'' term of service for legionary recruits, with a further four years as reservists (''evocati''). In AD 5, the standard term was increased to twenty years plus five years in the reserves. In the period following its introduction, the new term was deeply unpopular with the troops. On Augustus' death in AD 14, the legions stationed on the rivers Rhine and Danube staged major mutinies, and demanded, among other things, reinstatement of a sixteen-year term. Augustus prohibited serving legionaries from marrying, a decree that remained in force for two centuries. This measure was probably prudent in the early imperial period, when most legionaries were from Italy or the Roman colonies on the Mediterranean, and were required to serve long years far from home. This could lead to disaffection if they left families behind. But from about AD 100 onwards, when most legions were based long-term in the same frontier-province and recruitment was primarily local, the prohibition of marriage became a legal encumbrance that was largely ignored. Many legionaries formed stable relationships and brought up families. Their sons, although illegitimate in Roman law and thus unable to inherit their fathers' citizenship, were nevertheless frequently admitted to legions. At the same time, the traditional grant of land to retiring veterans was made replaceable by a cash discharge bonus, as there was no longer sufficient state-owned land (''ager publicus'') in Italy to distribute. Unlike the Republic, which had relied primarily on conscription (i.e. compulsory levy), Augustus and Agrippa preferred volunteers for their professional legions. Given the onerous new term of service, it was necessary to offer a substantial bonus to attract sufficient citizen-recruits. In AD 5, the discharge bonus was set at 3,000 ''
denarii The ''denarius'' (; : ''dēnāriī'', ) was the standard Roman silver coin from its introduction in the Second Punic War to the reign of Gordian III (AD 238–244), when it was gradually replaced by the ''antoninianus''. It continued to be mi ...
''. This was a generous sum equivalent to about 13 years' gross salary for a legionary of the time. To finance this major outlay, Augustus decreed a 5% tax on inheritances and 1% on auction-sales, to be paid into a dedicated ''
aerarium militare The ''aerarium militare'' was the military treasury of Imperial Rome. It was instituted by Augustus, the first Roman emperor, as a "permanent revenue source" for pensions ''(praemia)'' for veterans of the Imperial Roman army. The treasury d ...
'' (military treasury).CAH IX 378 However, veterans continued to be offered land instead of cash in Roman colonies established in the newly annexed frontier provinces, where public land was plentiful (as a result of confiscations from defeated indigenous tribes).Duncan-Jones (1994) 37 This was another grievance behind the mutinies of 14 AD, as it effectively forced Italian veterans to settle far from their own country (or lose their bonus).Tacitus ''Ann.'' I.17 The imperial authorities could not compromise on this issue, as the planting of colonies of Roman veterans was a crucial mechanism for controlling and Romanising a new province, and the foundation of veterans' colonies did not cease until the end of Trajan's rule (117). But as legionary recruitment became more localised (by AD 60, over half of recruits were not Italian-born), the issue became less relevant.CAH IX 379 Augustus modified the command structure of the legion to reflect its new permanent, professional nature. In Republican tradition (but ever less in practice), each legion was under six equestrian military tribunes who took turns to command it in pairs. But in the late Republic, military tribunes were eclipsed by higher-ranking officers of senatorial rank called ''legati'' ("literally "envoys"). A
proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a Roman consul, consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military ...
(Republican governor) might ask the senate to appoint a number of ''legati'' to serve under him e.g., Julius Caesar, Augustus' grand-uncle and adoptive father, had five, and later ten, ''legati'' attached to his staff when he was governor of
Cisalpine Gaul Cisalpine Gaul (, also called ''Gallia Citerior'' or ''Gallia Togata'') was the name given, especially during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, to a region of land inhabited by Celts (Gauls), corresponding to what is now most of northern Italy. Afte ...
(58–51 BC). These commanded detachments of one or more legions at the governor's behest and played a critical role in the conquest of Gaul. But legions still lacked a single, permanent commander. This was provided by Augustus, who appointed a ''legatus'' to command each legion with a term of office of several years. The ranking senatorial military tribune (''tribunus militum laticlavius'') was designated deputy commander, while the remaining five equestrian tribunes served as the legatus' staff officers. In addition, Augustus established a new post of ''
praefectus castrorum The ''praefectus castrorum'' ("camp prefect") was, in the Roman army of the early Empire, the third most senior staff officer of the Roman legion after the legate ('' legatus'') and the senior military tribune (''tribunus laticlavius''), both of ...
'' (literally "prefect of the camp"), to be filled by a Roman knight (often an outgoing '' centurio primus pilus'', a legion's chief centurion, who was usually elevated to equestrian rank on completion of his single-year term of office). Technically, this officer ranked below the senatorial tribune, but his long operational experience made him the legion commander's ''de facto'' executive officer.CAH XI 326 The prefect's primary role was as the legion's
quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land army, armies, a quartermaster is an officer who supervises military logistics, logistics and requisitions, manages stores or barracks, and distri ...
, in charge of legionary camps and supplies. It has been suggested that Augustus was responsible for establishing the small cavalry contingent of 120 horse attached to each legion. The existence of this unit is attested in
Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...
' '' Bellum Iudaicum'' written after AD 70, and on a number of tombstones.Fields (2009) 12 The attribution to Augustus is based on the (unproven) assumption that legionary cavalry had completely disappeared in the Caesarian army. The Augustan era also saw the introduction of some items of more sophisticated and protective equipment for legionaries, primarily to improve their survival rate. The ''
lorica segmentata The ''lorica segmentata'' (), also called ''lorica lamminata'', or ''banded armour'' is a type of personal armour that was used by soldiers of the Roman army, consisting of metal strips fashioned into circular bands, fastened to internal leath ...
'' (normally called simply "the ''lorica''" by the Romans), was a special laminated-strip body-armour, was probably developed under Augustus. Its earliest depiction is on the Arch of Augustus at
Susa Susa ( ) was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris, between the Karkheh River, Karkheh and Dez River, Dez Rivers in Iran. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital o ...
(Western Alps), dating from 6 BC. The oval shield of the Republic was replaced by the convex rectangular shield (''
scutum The ''scutum'' (; :''scuta'') was a type of shield used among Italic peoples in antiquity, most notably by the army of ancient Rome starting about the fourth century BC. The Romans adopted it when they switched from the military formation of ...
'') of the imperial era.


Auxilia

Augustus' ambitious expansion plans for the Empire (which included advancing the European border to the lines of the
Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...
and
Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
rivers) soon proved that 28 legions were not sufficient. Starting with the
Cantabrian Wars The Cantabrian Wars (29–19 BC) (''Bellum Cantabricum''), sometimes also referred to as the Cantabrian and Asturian Wars (''Bellum Cantabricum et Asturicum''), were the final stage of the two-century long Roman conquest of Hispania, in what to ...
, which aimed to annex the mineral-rich mountains of north-western Spain, Augustus' 41-year sole rule saw an almost uninterrupted series of major wars that frequently stretched the army's manpower to the limit. Augustus retained the services of numerous units of irregular allied native troops. But there was an urgent need for extra regular troops, organised, if not yet equipped, in the same way as the legions. These could only be drawn from the Empire's vast pool of non-citizen subjects, known as ''
peregrini In the early Roman Empire, from 30 BC to AD 212, a ''peregrinus'' () was a free provincial subject of the Empire who was not a Roman citizen. ''Peregrini'' constituted the vast majority of the Empire's inhabitants in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. ...
''. These outnumbered Roman citizens by around nine to one in the early 1st century. The ''peregrini'' were now recruited into regular units of
cohort Cohort or cohortes may refer to: Cohort Sociological * Cohort (military unit), the basic tactical unit of a Roman legion * Cohort (educational group), a group of students working together through the same academic curriculum Scientific * Cohort ...
-strength (c. 500 men), to form a non-citizen corps called the (literally: "supports"). By AD 23, Tacitus reports that the ''auxilia'' numbered roughly as many as the legionaries (i.e., c. 175,000 men). The roughly 250 regiments of ''auxilia'' this implies were divided into three types: an all-infantry ''cohors'' (plural: ''cohortes'') (
cohort Cohort or cohortes may refer to: Cohort Sociological * Cohort (military unit), the basic tactical unit of a Roman legion * Cohort (educational group), a group of students working together through the same academic curriculum Scientific * Cohort ...
) (c. 120 regiments); an infantry unit with a cavalry contingent attached, the ''
cohors equitata A cohort (from the Latin ''cohors'', : ''cohortes''; see wikt:cohors for full inflection table) was a standard tactical military unit of a Roman legion. Although the standard size changed with time and situation, it was generally composed of 4 ...
'' (plural: ''cohortes equitatae'') (80 units); and an all-cavalry '' ala'' (plural: ''alae'', literal meaning: "wing"), of which c. 50 were originally established.Holder (2003) It appears that at this early stage, auxiliary recruitment was ethnically based, with most men originating from the same tribe or province. Hence regiments carried an ethnic name e.g., '' cohors V Raetorum'' ("5th Cohort of Raeti"), recruited from the
Raeti The Raeti ( ; spelling variants: ''Rhaeti'', ''Rheti'' or ''Rhaetii'') were a confederation of Alpine tribes, whose language and culture were related to those of the Etruscans. Before the Roman conquest, they inhabited present-day Tyrol in Austr ...
, a group of
Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...
tribes that inhabited modern Switzerland. It has been suggested that the equipment of auxiliary regiments was not standardised until after AD 50, and that until then, auxiliaries were armed with the traditional weaponry of their tribe. But it is possible that at least some regiments had standardised equipment from Augustan times. Auxiliary regiments were designed to operate as a complement to the legions. That is, they performed exactly the same role as the Republic's ''alae'' of Italian allies (''
socii The ''socii'' ( ) or ''foederati'' ( ) were confederates of ancient Rome, Rome and formed one of the three legal denominations in Roman Italy (''Italia'') along with the core Roman citizens (''Cives Romani'') and the extended ''Latin Rights, Lat ...
'') before the Social War (91–88 BC), an equal number of which always accompanied legions on campaign.


Praetorian Guard

Under the late Republic, a proconsul on campaign often formed a small personal guard, selected from the troops under his command, known as a ''cohors praetoria'' ("commander's cohort"), from ''
praetorium The Latin term ''praetorium'' (also and ) originally identified the tent of a general within a Roman '' castrum'' (encampment), and derived from the title praetor, which identified a Roman magistrate.Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roma ...
'' meaning the commander's tent at the centre of a Roman marching-camp (or commander's residence in a legionary fortress). At the
Battle of Actium The Battle of Actium was a naval battle fought between Octavian's maritime fleet, led by Marcus Agrippa, and the combined fleets of both Mark Antony and Cleopatra. The battle took place on 2 September 31 BC in the Ionian Sea, near the former R ...
(31 BC), Augustus had five such cohorts around him. After the battle, he retained them in being as a permanent brigade in and around Rome, known as the '' praetoriani'' ("soldiers of the imperial palace"). Inscription evidence suggests that Augustus increased the Praetorian establishment to nine cohorts, each under the command of a ''tribunus militum'' (military tribune). With all the legions deployed in far-off provinces under the command of powerful senators, Augustus evidently considered that he needed a least one legion-sized force with him in Rome to deter potential usurpers. Augustus stationed three cohorts in the City itself, each housed in separate barracks, and the rest in neighbouring cities of
Latium Latium ( , ; ) is the region of central western Italy in which the city of Rome was founded and grew to be the capital city of the Roman Empire. Definition Latium was originally a small triangle of fertile, volcanic soil (Old Latium) on whic ...
. Originally, each cohort was independent, but in 2 BC, Augustus appointed two overall commanders ('' praefecti praetorio'') of equestrian rank, one for the cohorts based in the City, the other for those outside. Augustus envisaged the Praetorians as an elite force, whose duties included guarding the imperial palace on the
Palatine hill The Palatine Hill (; Classical Latin: ''Palatium''; Neo-Latin: ''Collis/Mons Palatinus''; ), which relative to the seven hills of Rome is the centremost, is one of the most ancient parts of the city; it has been called "the first nucleus of the ...
, protecting the Emperor's person and those of his family, defending the imperial government, and accompanying the emperor when he left the City on long journeys or to lead military campaigns in person. They also served as ceremonial troops on state occasions. Recruits to the ranks were, during the
Julio-Claudian The Julio-Claudian dynasty comprised the first five Roman emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. This line of emperors ruled the Roman Empire, from its formation (under Augustus, in 27 BC) until the last of the line, Emper ...
era, exclusively Italian-born. They were accorded much better pay and conditions than ordinary legionaries. In AD 5, the standard term of service for Praetorians was set at 16 years (compared to 25 years in the legions), and their pay was set at triple the rate of ordinary legionaries.CAH X In deference to Republican tradition, which banned armed men within the boundaries of the City of Rome, Augustus laid down a rule that Praetorians on duty within the City must not wear armour and must keep their weapons out of sight. Those Praetorians on important official duties, such as the Emperor's bodyguard-detail, wore the formal dress of Roman citizens, the
toga The toga (, ), a distinctive garment of Ancient Rome, was a roughly semicircular cloth, between in length, draped over the shoulders and around the body. It was usually woven from white wool, and was worn over a tunic. In Roman historical tra ...
, under which they concealed their swords and daggers. The rest wore the soldier's standard non-combat dress of tunic and cloak (''
paludamentum In Republican and Imperial Rome, the ''paludamentum'' () was a cloak or cape fastened at one shoulder, worn by military commanders (e.g., the ''legatus'') and rather less often by their troops. As supreme commander of the whole Roman army, Roman ...
'').


Urban cohorts

In addition to the Praetorians, Augustus established a second armed force in Rome, the ''cohortes urbanae'' ("urban cohorts"), of which three were based in the City and one in ''
Lugdunum Lugdunum (also spelled Lugudunum, ; modern Lyon, France) was an important Colonia (Roman), Roman city in Gaul, established on the current site of Lyon, France, Lyon. The Roman city was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus, but cont ...
'' (Lyon) in Gaul, to protect the major imperial
mint Mint or The Mint may refer to: Plants * Lamiaceae, the mint family ** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint" Coins and collectibles * Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins * Mint condition, a state of like-new ...
there. These battalions were tasked with maintaining public order in the City, including crowd-control at major events such as chariot-races and
gladiator A gladiator ( , ) was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their ...
ial combats, and the suppression of the popular unrest that periodically shook the City, e.g., the riots caused by high grain prices in AD 19. Their command was given to the ''
praefectus urbi The ''praefectus urbanus'', also called ''praefectus urbi'' or urban prefect in English, was prefect of the city of Rome, and later also of Constantinople. The office originated under the Roman kings, continued during the Republic and Empire, an ...
'', a senator who acted as Rome's "mayor". Unlike the praetorians, the urban cohorts were not deployed for military operations outside Italy.


Vigiles

The ''Vigiles'' or more properly the ''Vigiles Urbani'' ("watchmen of the
City A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
") or ''Cohortes Vigilum'' ("cohorts of the watchmen") were the
firefighter A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...
s and
police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...
of ancient Rome. The ''Vigiles'' also acted as a night watch, keeping an eye out for burglars and hunting down runaway slaves, and were on occasion used to maintain order in the streets. The ''Vigiles'' were considered a
para-military A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...
unit and their organisation into cohorts and centuries reflects this.


Imperial German Bodyguard

To double-insure his own personal safety and that of imperial family members, Augustus established a small personal guard called the '' Germani corporis custodes'' (literally: "German bodyguards"). Probably of cohort-strength, these were crack horsemen recruited from native peoples on the lower Rhine, mainly from the Batavi. Their leader, probably a Batavi aristocrat, reported to the Emperor directly. The Germans shared the task of guarding the imperial family and the Palace with the Praetorians. In AD 68, the Emperor
Galba Galba ( ; born Servius Sulpicius Galba; 24 December 3 BC – 15 January AD 69) was Roman emperor, ruling for 7 months from 8 June AD 68 to 15 January 69. He was the first emperor in the Year of the Four Emperors and assumed the throne follow ...
disbanded the German Bodyguards because of their loyalty to
Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...
(), whom he had overthrown. The decision caused deep offence to the Batavi, and contributed to the outbreak of the
Revolt of the Batavi The Revolt of the Batavi took place in the Roman province of Germania Inferior ("Lower Germania") between AD 69 and 70. It was an uprising against the Roman Empire started by the Batavi, a small but militarily powerful Germanic tribe that inhab ...
in the following year.


Principate

The dual-structure configuration of legions/auxilia established by Augustus remained essentially intact until the late 3rd century, with only minor modifications made during that long period. The senior officers of the army were, until the 3rd century, mainly from the Italian aristocracy. This was divided into two orders, the senatorial order (''ordo senatorius''), consisting of the c. 600 sitting members of the
Roman Senate The Roman Senate () was the highest and constituting assembly of ancient Rome and its aristocracy. With different powers throughout its existence it lasted from the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in 753 BC) as the Sena ...
(plus their sons and grandsons), and the more numerous (several thousand-strong) ''
equites The (; , though sometimes referred to as " knights" in English) constituted the second of the property/social-based classes of ancient Rome, ranking below the senatorial class. A member of the equestrian order was known as an (). Descript ...
'' ''equo publico'' or "knights granted a public horse", i.e., knights hereditary or appointed by the Emperor. Hereditary senators and knights combined military service with civilian posts, a career-path known as the ''
cursus honorum The , or more colloquially 'ladder of offices'; ) was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The comprised a mixture of ...
'', typically starting with a period of junior administrative posts in Rome, followed by five to ten years in the military and a final period of senior positions in either the provinces or at Rome. This tiny, tightly knit ruling oligarchy of under 10,000 men monopolised political, military and economic power in an empire of c. 60 million inhabitants and achieved a remarkable degree of political stability. During the first 200 years of its existence (30 BC – AD 180), the empire suffered only one major episode of civil strife (the Civil War of 68–9). Otherwise, attempts at usurpation by provincial governors were few and swiftly suppressed. Under the emperor
Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...
(), a minimum term of 25 years' service was established for auxiliary service (although many served for longer). On completion of the term, auxiliary soldiers, and their children, were from this time routinely granted Roman citizenship as a reward for service.CAH X 391 (This is deduced from the fact that the first known
Roman military diploma A Roman military diploma was a document inscribed in bronze certifying that the holder was honourably discharged from the Roman armed forces and/or had received the grant of Roman citizenship from the emperor as reward for service. The diploma ...
s date from the time of Claudius. This was a folding bronze tablet engraved with the details of the soldier's service record, which he could use to prove his citizenship). Claudius also decreed that prefects of auxiliary regiments must all be of knightly rank, thus excluding serving centurions from such commands. The fact that auxiliary commanders were now all of the same social rank as all but one of a legion's military tribunes, probably indicates that ''auxilia'' now enjoyed greater prestige. Indigenous chiefs continued to command some auxiliary regiments, and were normally granted the rank of Roman knight for the purpose. It is also likely that auxiliary pay was standardised at this time, but pay scales during the Julio-Claudian period are uncertain. Estimates range from 33 to 50% of legionary pay, well below the 75-80% in force in the time of the emperor
Domitian Domitian ( ; ; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was Roman emperor from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavian dynasty. Described as "a r ...
(ruled 81–96). Auxiliary uniform, armour, weapons and equipment were probably standardised by the end of the
Julio-Claudian The Julio-Claudian dynasty comprised the first five Roman emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. This line of emperors ruled the Roman Empire, from its formation (under Augustus, in 27 BC) until the last of the line, Emper ...
period (AD 68). Auxiliary equipment was broadly similar to that of the legions. By AD 68, there was little difference between most auxiliary infantry and their legionary counterparts in equipment, training and fighting capability. After about AD 80, the ''centuriae'' of the First Cohort of each legion were doubled in size to 160 men, but the number of ''centuriae'' apparently reduced to five, thus reducing the legion's centurions from 60 to 59. The legion's effectives were thus increased to c. 5,240 men plus officers. In the same period, some auxiliary regiments, both ''alae'' and ''cohortes'', were also doubled to so-called ''milliaria'' size (literally "1,000-strong", actually only 720 in milliary ''alae'' and 800 in ''cohortes''). But only a minority of auxiliary regiments, about one in seven, were so enlarged. During the 2nd century some units with the new names ''
numerus Numerus (Latin: "number") may refer to one of the following *Grammatical number * Numerus, a military unit of the Roman army ;See also: *Roman numerals Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the u ...
'' ("group") and ''
vexillatio A ''vexillatio'' (: ''vexillationes'') was a detachment of a Roman legion formed as a temporary task force created by the Roman army of the Principate. It was named from the standard carried by legionary detachments, the ''vexillum'' (: ''vexill ...
'' ("detachment") appear in the diploma record. Their size is uncertain, but was likely smaller than the regular ''alae'' and ''cohortes'', as originally they were probably detachments from the latter, acquiring independent status after long-term separation. As these units are mentioned in diplomas, they were presumably part of the regular auxiliary organisation. But ''numeri'' was also a generic term used for barbarian units outside the regular ''auxilia''. (see section 2.4 Irregular units, below). The traditional alternation between senior civilian and military posts fell into disuse in the late 2nd and 3rd centuries, as the Italian hereditary aristocracy was progressively replaced in the senior echelons of the army by the ''primipilares'' (former chief centurions).Goldsworthy (2000) 164–65 In the 3rd century, only 10% of auxiliary prefects whose origins are known were Italian equestrians, compared to the majority in the previous two centuries.Holder (1982) 65 At the same time, equestrians increasingly replaced the senatorial order in the top commands.
Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; ; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through cursus honorum, the ...
() placed equestrian ''primipilares'' in command of the three new legions he raised and
Gallienus Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (; – September 268) was Roman emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to 268. He ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century that nearly caused the collapse of the empire. He ...
() did the same for all the other legions, giving them the title ''praefectus pro legato'' ("prefect acting as legate").Tomlin (1988) 108 The rise of the ''primipilares'' may have provided the army with more professional leadership, but it increased military rebellions by ambitious generals. The 3rd century saw numerous '' coups d'état'' and civil wars. Few 3rd-century emperors enjoyed long reigns or died of natural causes. Emperors responded to the increased insecurity with a steady build-up of the forces at their immediate disposal. These became known as the ''comitatus'' ("escort", from which derives the English word "committee"). To the Praetorian Guard's 10,000 men, Septimius Severus added the legion '' II Parthica''. Based at
Albano Laziale Albano Laziale (;; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, on the Alban Hills, in the Italian region of Lazio. Rome is distant. It is bounded by other communes of Castel Gandolfo, Rocca di Papa, Ariccia and ...
near Rome, it was the first legion to be stationed in Italy since Augustus. He doubled the size of the imperial escort cavalry, the ''equites singulares Augusti'', to 2,000 by drawing select detachments from ''alae'' on the borders.Tomlin (1988) 107 His ''comitatus'' thus numbered some 17,000 men. The rule of Gallienus saw the appointment of a senior officer, with the title of ''dux equitum'' ("cavalry leader"), to command all the cavalry of the emperor's ''comitatus''. This included ''equites promoti'' (cavalry contingents detached from the legions), plus Illyrian light cavalry (''equites Dalmatarum'') and allied barbarian cavalry (''equites foederati''). But the ''dux equitum'' did not command an independent "cavalry army", as was suggested by some more dated scholars. The cavalry remained integral to the mixed infantry- and cavalry-''comitatus'', with the infantry remaining the predominant element.Goldsworthy (2000) 170 The seminal development for the army in the early 3rd century was the ''
Constitutio Antoniniana The (Latin for "Constitution r Edictof Antoninus"), also called the Edict of Caracalla or the Antonine Constitution, was an edict issued in AD 212 by the Roman emperor Caracalla. It declared that all free men in the Roman Empire were to be ...
'' (Antonine Decree) of 212, issued by Emperor
Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname Caracalla (; ), was Roman emperor from 198 to 217 AD, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father and then r ...
(). This granted Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the empire, ending the second-class status of the ''peregrini''. This had the effect of breaking down the distinction between the citizen legions and the auxiliary regiments. In the 1st and 2nd centuries, the legions were the symbol (and guarantors) of the dominance of the Italian "master nation" over its subject peoples. In the 3rd century, they were no longer socially superior to their auxiliary counterparts (although they may have retained their elite status in military terms). In tandem, the legions' special armour and equipment (e.g., the ''
lorica segmentata The ''lorica segmentata'' (), also called ''lorica lamminata'', or ''banded armour'' is a type of personal armour that was used by soldiers of the Roman army, consisting of metal strips fashioned into circular bands, fastened to internal leath ...
'') was phased out during the early 3rd century.Goldsworthy (2003) 205 There was also a progressive reduction in the size of the legions. Legions were broken up into smaller units, as evidenced by the shrinkage and eventual abandonment of their traditional large bases, documented for example in Britain. In addition, from the 2nd century onwards, the separation of some detachments from their parent units became permanent in some cases, establishing new unit types, ''e.g.'' the ''vexillatio equitum Illyricorum'' based in Dacia in the early 2nd century and the ''equites promoti'' (legionary cavalry detached from their unit) and ''numerus Hnaufridi'' in Britain.


List of deployments

Notes: (1) Table excludes c. 4,000 officers (centurions and above). (2) Auxiliary cavalry nos. assumes 70% of ''cohortes'' were ''equitatae'' #The table shows the importance of auxiliary troops in the 2nd century, when they outnumbered legionaries by 1.5 to 1. #The table shows that legions did not have a standard complement of auxiliary regiments and that there was no fixed ratio of auxiliary regiments to legions in each province. The ratio varied from six regiments per legion in Cappadocia to 40 per legion in Mauretania. #Overall, cavalry represented about 20% (including the small contingents of legionary cavalry) of the total army effectives. But there were variations: in Mauretania the cavalry proportion was 28%. #The figures show the massive deployments in Britannia and Dacia. Together, these two provinces account for 27% of the total auxilia corps.


Dominate


Units


Praetorian Guard

Augustus' successor
Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...
(), appointed only single commanders for the Praetorian Guard:
Sejanus Lucius Aelius Sejanus ( – 18 October AD 31), commonly known as Sejanus (), was a Roman soldier and confidant of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. Of the Equites class by birth, Sejanus rose to power as prefect of the Praetorian Guard, the imperia ...
(14–31) and, after ordering the latter's execution for treason, Macro. Under the influence of Sejanus, who also acted as his chief political advisor, Tiberius decided to concentrate the accommodation of all the Praetorian cohorts into a single, purpose-built fortress of massive size on the outskirts of Rome, beyond the
Servian Wall The Servian Wall (; ) is an ancient Roman defensive barrier constructed around the city of Rome in the early 4th century BC. The wall was built of volcanic tuff and was up to in height in places, wide at its base, long, and is believed to hav ...
. Known as the ''
castra praetoria Castra Praetoria were the ancient barracks (''castra'') of the Praetorian Guard of Imperial Rome. History According to the Roman historian Tacitus, the barracks were built in 23 AD by Sejanus, Lucius Aelius Sejanus, the praetorian prefect servi ...
'' ("praetorian camp"), its construction was complete by AD 23. After Tiberius, the number of prefects in office simultaneously was normally two, but occasionally only one or even three. By AD 23, there were nine Praetorian cohorts in existence. These were probably the same size as legionary cohorts (480 men each), for a total of 4,320 effectives. Each cohort was under the command of a military tribune, normally a former chief centurion of a legion. It appears that each cohort contained some ninety cavalrymen who, like legionary cavalry were members of infantry ''centuriae'', but operated in the field as three ''
turma A ''turma'' (; plural ''turmae''; ) was a cavalry unit in the Roman army of the Republic and Empire. In the Byzantine Empire, it became applied to the larger, regiment-sized military-administrative divisions of a '' thema''. The word is often tran ...
e'' of thirty men each. The number of Praetorian cohorts were increased to twelve by the time of
Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...
. During the 68-9 civil war,
Vitellius Aulus Vitellius ( ; ; 24 September 1520 December 69) was Roman emperor for eight months, from 19 April to 20 December AD 69. Vitellius became emperor following the quick succession of the previous emperors Galba and Otho, in a year of civil wa ...
disbanded the existing cohorts because he did not trust their loyalty and recruited 16 new ones, all double-strength (i.e., containing 800 men each). However,
Vespasian Vespasian (; ; 17 November AD 9 – 23 June 79) was Roman emperor from 69 to 79. The last emperor to reign in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years. His fiscal reforms and consolida ...
() reduced the number of cohorts back to the original nine (but still 800-strong), later increased to ten by his son,
Domitian Domitian ( ; ; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was Roman emperor from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavian dynasty. Described as "a r ...
(). By this time, therefore, the Guard consisted of c. 8,000 men. It was probably
Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...
() who established a separate cavalry arm of the Guard, the ''
equites singulares Augusti The ''equites singulares Augusti'' or ''equites singulares Imperatoris'' (lit: "personal cavalry of the emperor" i.e. imperial horseguards) were the cavalry arm of the Praetorian Guard during the Principate period of imperial Rome. Based in Rome, ...
'' ("personal cavalry of the emperor", or imperial horseguards). An elite troop recruited from members of the finest auxiliary ''alae'' (originally from Batavi ''alae'' only), the ''singulares'' were tasked with escorting the emperor on campaign. The unit was organised as a milliary ''ala'', probably containing 720 horsemen. It was under the command of a military tribune, who probably reported to one of the Praetorian prefects. It was the only praetorian regiment that admitted persons who were not natural-born citizens, although recruits appear to have been granted citizenship on enlistment and not on completion of 25 years' service as for other auxiliaries. The unit was housed in its own barracks on the
Caelian hill The Caelian Hill ( ; ; ) is one of the famous seven hills of Rome. Geography The Caelian Hill is a moderately long promontory about long, to wide, and tall in the park near the Temple of Claudius. The hill overlooks a plateau from wh ...
, separate from the main ''castra praetoria''. By the time of
Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...
(), the ''singulares'' appear to have numbered 1,000 men. They were further expanded to 2,000 horse in the early 3rd century by Septimius Severus, who constructed a new, larger base for them in Rome, the ''
castra nova equitum singularium The Castra Nova equitum singularium was an ancient Roman fort in Rome housing part of the emperor's cavalry bodyguard. The site of the fort now lies beneath the Basilica of St John Lateran. The ''Castra Nova'', or "new fort", was one of two cav ...
''. By AD 100, therefore, the Guard consisted of c. 9,000 effectives, rising to c. 10,000 under Severus. Some historians have dismissed the Praetorian Guard as a parade-ground army of little military value. The Praetorians were certainly taunted as such by the soldiers of the Danubian legions during the civil war of 68–9. But Rankov argues that the Praetorians boasted a distinguished campaign-record that shows that their training and military effectiveness was far more impressive than those of merely ceremonial troops and amply justified their elite status. During the Julio-Claudian era (to 68), the Praetorians saw relatively little action in the field, as emperors only rarely led their armies in person. After that date, emperors led armies, and therefore deployed the Praetorians on campaign, much more frequently. The Praetorians were in the thick of the Emperor Domitian's wars, firstly in Germany and then on the Dacian front, where their prefect,
Cornelius Fuscus Cornelius Fuscus (died 86 AD) was a Roman general who fought campaigns under the Emperors of the Flavian dynasty. He first distinguished himself as one of Vespasian's most ardent supporters during the civil war of 69 AD, known as the Year of th ...
was killed in action (87). Other examples include the Praetorians' prominent role in
Trajan's Dacian Wars Trajan's Dacian Wars (101–102, 105–106) were two military campaigns fought between the Roman Empire and Dacia during Roman Emperor, Emperor Trajan's rule. The conflicts were triggered by the constant Dacian threat on the Danube, Danubian Rom ...
(101-6), as acknowledged on the friezes of Trajan's Column and the Adamklissi Tropaeum. Equally celebrated, on the
Column of Marcus Aurelius The Column of Marcus Aurelius (, ) is a Roman victory column located in Piazza Colonna, Rome, Italy. A Doric column adorned with a detailed spiral relief, it was built in honor of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and modeled after Trajan's Colu ...
, was the Praetorians' role in the
Marcomannic Wars The Marcomannic Wars () were a series of wars lasting from about AD 166 until 180. These wars pitted the Roman Empire against principally the Germanic peoples, Germanic Marcomanni and Quadi and the Sarmatian Iazyges; there were related conflicts ...
(166-80), in which two Guard prefects lost their lives. Even their final hour was wreathed in military glory: at the
Battle of the Milvian Bridge The Battle of the Milvian Bridge took place between the Roman Emperors Constantine the Great, Constantine I and Maxentius on 28 October AD 312. It takes its name from the Milvian Bridge, an important route over the Tiber. Constantine won the batt ...
(312), the Praetorians fought fiercely for their emperor
Maxentius Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius ( 283 – 28 October 312) was a Roman emperor from 306 until his death in 312. Despite ruling in Italy and North Africa, and having the recognition of the Senate in Rome, he was not recognized as a legitimate ...
, trying to prevent the army of rival emperor
Constantine I Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...
from crossing the river
Tiber The Tiber ( ; ; ) is the List of rivers of Italy, third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the R ...
and entering Rome. Many perished fighting and others drowned when the makeshift pontoon-bridge they were using collapsed. Subsequently, the Praetorians paid the price of supporting the losing side: they were definitively disbanded, and their fortress demolished, by Constantine.


Legions

The legion consisted almost entirely of heavy infantry, i.e., infantry equipped with metal armour (helmets and
cuirass A cuirass ( ; ; ) is a piece of armour that covers the torso, formed of one or more pieces of metal or other rigid material. The term probably originates from the original material, leather, from the Old French word and the Latin word . The us ...
es). Although it was almost unbeatable by non-Roman infantry on the battlefield, it was a large, inflexible unit that could not campaign independently due to the lack of cavalry cover and other specialist forces. It was dependent on the support of auxiliary regiments. The legion's basic sub-unit was the ''
centuria ''Centuria'' (; : ''centuriae'') is a Latin term (from the stem ''centum'' meaning one hundred) denoting military units originally consisting of 100 men. The size of the centuria changed over time, and from the first century BC through most of ...
'' (plural: ''centuriae''), which literally means "a hundred men", but in practice numbered 80 men in the Principate, equivalent in numbers to half of a modern
company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...
. The legion's main tactical sub-unit was the ''cohors'' (plural: ''cohortes'', or
cohort Cohort or cohortes may refer to: Cohort Sociological * Cohort (military unit), the basic tactical unit of a Roman legion * Cohort (educational group), a group of students working together through the same academic curriculum Scientific * Cohort ...
), which contained six ''centuriae'' for a total of 480 men, roughly the same size as a modern
battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...
. There were 10 cohorts to each legion, or 4,800 men (c. 5,000 including the small legionary cavalry of 120 horse and officers). Thus, a legion was equivalent in numbers to a modern
brigade A brigade is a major tactical military unit, military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute ...
. By AD 100, however, the legion's First Cohort was divided into only five ''centuriae'', but double-strength at 160 men each, for a total of 800 men. At this point, therefore, a legion would have numbered c. 5,300 effectives. In addition, each legion contained a small cavalry contingent of 120 men. Unlike auxiliary cavalry, however, they do not appear to have been organised in separate cavalry squadrons (''turmae'') as were auxiliary cavalry, but to have been divided among specific ''centuriae''. Legionary cavalry probably performed a non-combat role as messengers, scouts and escorts for senior officers.


Regular auxiliary units

The following table sets out the official, or establishment, strength of auxiliary units in the 2nd century. The real strength of a unit would fluctuate continually, but would likely have been somewhat less than the establishment most of the time.
Notes
(1) Opinion is divided about the size of an ''ala'' ''turma'', between 30 and 32 men. A ''turma'' numbered 30 in the Republican cavalry and in the ''cohors equitata'' of the Principate auxilia. Against this is a statement by
Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; ; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander, and philosopher of the Roman period. '' The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best source on the campaigns of ...
that an ''ala'' was 512 strong. This would make an ala ''turma'' 32 men strong.
(2) ''tribunus militum'' in original citizen ''cohortes''Birley (2002), p.46
(3) ''praefectus'' in Batavi and Tungri ''cohortes milliariae''
Unless the regiment name, was qualified by a specialist function e.g. ''cohors sagittariorum'' ("cohort of archers"), its infantry and cavalry were heavily equipped in the same way as the legionaries.


''Cohors''

These all-infantry units were modeled on the cohorts of the legions, with the same officers and sub-units. It is a common misconception that auxiliary ''cohortes'' contained light infantry: this only applies to specialist units such as archers. Their defensive equipment of regular auxiliary infantry was very similar to that of legionaries, consisting of metal helmet and metal cuirass (chain-mail or scale). There is no evidence that auxiliaries were equipped with the ''
lorica segmentata The ''lorica segmentata'' (), also called ''lorica lamminata'', or ''banded armour'' is a type of personal armour that was used by soldiers of the Roman army, consisting of metal strips fashioned into circular bands, fastened to internal leath ...
'', the elaborate and expensive laminated-strip body-armour that was issued to legionaries. However, legionaries often wore chain-mail and scalar cuirasses also. In addition, it appears that auxiliaries carried a round shield (''
clipeus In the military of classical antiquity, a ''clipeus'' (; Ancient Greek: Aspis, ἀσπίς) was a large shield worn by the Ancient Greece, Greek Hoplite, hoplites and Ancient Rome, Romans as a piece of defensive armor, which they carried upon t ...
'') instead of the curved rectangular shield (''
scutum The ''scutum'' (; :''scuta'') was a type of shield used among Italic peoples in antiquity, most notably by the army of ancient Rome starting about the fourth century BC. The Romans adopted it when they switched from the military formation of ...
'') of legionaries. As regards weapons, auxiliaries were equipped in the same way as legionaries: a javelin (although not the sophisticated ''
pilum The ''pilum'' (; : ''pila'') was a javelin commonly used by the Roman army in ancient times. It was generally about long overall, consisting of an iron shank about in diameter and long with a pyramidal head, attached to a wooden shaft by eith ...
'' type provided to legionaries), a ''
gladius ''Gladius'' () is a Latin word properly referring to the type of sword that was used by Ancient Rome, ancient Roman foot soldiers starting from the 3rd century BC and until the 3rd century AD. Linguistically, within Latin, the word also came t ...
'' (short stabbing-sword) and ''
pugio The ''pugio'' (; plural: ''pugiones'') was a dagger used by Roman soldiers as a sidearm. It seems likely that the ''pugio'' was intended as an auxiliary weapon, but its exact purpose for the soldier remains unknown though it seems it could have ...
'' (dagger).Goldsworthy (2003), p.136 It has been estimated that the total weight of auxiliary infantry equipment was similar to that of legionaries', so that non-specialist ''cohortes'' may also be classified as heavy infantry, which fought in the battle-line alongside legionaries.Goldsworthy (2000), p.127 There is no evidence that auxiliary infantry fought in a looser order than legionaries. It appears that in a set-piece battle-line, auxiliary infantry would normally be stationed on the flanks, with legionary infantry holding the centre, e.g., as in the
Battle of Watling Street The Boudican revolt was an armed uprising by native Celtic Britons against the Roman Empire during the Roman conquest of Britain. It took place circa AD 60–61 in the Roman province of Britain, and it was led by Boudica, the Queen of the Icen ...
(AD 60), the final defeat of the rebel Britons under queen
Boudicca Boudica or Boudicca (, from Brythonic * 'victory, win' + * 'having' suffix, i.e. 'Victorious Woman', known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh as , ) was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed up ...
. This was a tradition inherited from the Republic, when the precursors of auxiliary ''cohortes'', the Latin ''alae'', occupied the same position in the line.Goldsworthy (2000), p.52 The flanks of the line required equal, if not greater, skill to hold as the centre.


''Ala''

The all-mounted '' alae'' contained the elite cavalry of the Roman army. They were specially trained in elaborate manoeuvres, such as those displayed to the emperor Hadrian during a documented inspection. They were best-suited for large-scale operations and battle, during which they acted as the primary cavalry escort for the legions, which had almost no cavalry of their own. They were heavily protected, with chain-mail or scale body armour, a cavalry version of the infantry helmet (with more protective features) and oval shield. Their offensive weapons included a spear ('' hasta''), a cavalry sword (''
spatha The spatha was a type of straight and long sword, measuring between , with a handle length of between , in use in the territory of the Roman Empire during the 1st to 6th centuries AD. Later swords, from the 7th to 10th centuries, like the Viking ...
''), which was much longer than the infantry ''gladius'' to provide greater reach and a long dagger. The elite status of an ''alaris'' is shown by the fact that he received 20% greater pay than his counterpart in a cohort, and than a legionary infantryman.


''Cohors equitata''

These were ''cohortes'' with a cavalry contingent attached. There is evidence that their numbers expanded with the passage of time. Only about 40% of attested ''cohortes'' are specifically attested as ''equitatae'' in inscriptions, which is probably the original Augustan proportion. A study of units stationed in Syria in the mid 2nd century found that many units which did not carry the ''equitata'' title did in fact contain cavalrymen e.g. by discovery of a tombstone of a cavalryman attached to the cohort. This implies that by that time, at least 70% of ''cohortes'' were probably ''equitatae''.Holder (2003), p.119 The addition of cavalry to a cohort obviously enabled it to carry out a wider range of independent operations. A ''cohors equitata'' was in effect a self-contained mini-army. The traditional view of ''equites cohortales'' (the cavalry arm of ''cohortes equitatae''), as expounded by G.L. Cheesman, was that they were just a mounted infantry with poor-quality horses. They would use their mounts simply to reach the battlefield and then would dismount to fight. This view is today discredited. Although it is clear that ''equites cohortales'' did not match ''equites alares'' (''ala'' cavalrymen) in quality (hence their lower pay), the evidence is that they fought as cavalry in the same way as the ''alares'' and often alongside them. Their armour and weapons were the same as for the ''alares''. Nevertheless, non-combat roles of the ''equites cohortales'' differed significantly from the ''alares''. Non-combat roles such as despatch-riders (''dispositi'') were generally filled by cohort cavalry.


Specialised auxiliary units


Heavily armoured lancers

''
Equites cataphractarii ''Equites cataphractarii'', or simply ''cataphractarii'', were the most heavily armoured type of Roman cavalry in the Imperial Roman army and Late Roman army. The term derives from a Greek word, κατάφρακτος ''kataphraktos'', meaning "c ...
'', or simply ''cataphractarii'' for short, were the heavily armoured cavalry of the
Roman army The Roman army () served ancient Rome and the Roman people, enduring through the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), and the Roman Empire (27 BC–AD 1453), including the Western Roman Empire (collapsed Fall of the W ...
. Based on
Sarmatian The Sarmatians (; ; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples who dominated the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe from about the 5th century BCE to the 4t ...
and
Parthia Parthia ( ''Parθava''; ''Parθaw''; ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Medes during the 7th century BC, was incorporated into the subsequent Achaemeni ...
n models, they were also known as '' contarii'' and ''
clibanarii The Clibanarii or Klibanophoroi (, meaning "camp oven-bearers" from the Greek word meaning "camp oven" or "metallic furnace"), in Persian Grivpanvar, were a Sasanian Persian, late Roman and Byzantine military unit of armored heavy cavalry. De ...
'', although it is unclear whether these terms were interchangeable or whether they denoted variations in equipment or role. Their common feature was scalar armour which covered the whole body and conical helmets. Their lances ('' contus'') were very long and were held in both hands, precluding the use of shields. In some cases, their horses are also depicted as protected by scalar armour, including head-piece. Normally, they were also equipped with long swords. In some cases, they carried bows instead of lances. Together with new units of light mounted archers, the ''cataphractarii'' were designed to counter Parthian (and, in
Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, on the west by Noricum and upper Roman Italy, Italy, and on the southward by Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia and upper Moesia. It ...
, Sarmatian) battle-tactics. Parthian armies consisted largely of cavalry. Their standard tactic was to use light mounted archers to weaken and break up the Roman infantry line, and then to rout it with a charge by the ''cataphractarii'' concentrated on the weakest point. The only special heavy cavalry units to appear in the 2nd century record are: '' ala Ulpia contariorum'' and ''ala I Gallorum et Pannoniorum cataphractaria'' stationed in Pannonia and Moesia Inferior respectively in the 2nd century. Both faced the so-called "Sarmatian salient" between the Roman territories of Pannonia and Dacia, i.e., the
Hungarian Plain The Great Hungarian Plain (also known as Alföld or Great Alföld, or ) is a plain occupying the majority of the modern territory of Hungary. It is the largest part of the wider Pannonian Plain (however, the Great Hungarian Plain was not part ...
, the territory of the
Iazyges The Iazyges () were an ancient Sarmatians, Sarmatian tribe that traveled westward in 200BC from Central Asia to the steppes of modern Ukraine. In , they moved into modern-day Hungary and Serbia near the Pannonian steppe between the Danube ...
, a Sarmatian tribe which had migrated there and seized control of it during the 1st century.


Light cavalry

From the Second Punic War until the 3rd century AD, the bulk of Rome's light cavalry (apart from mounted archers from Syria) was provided by the inhabitants of the northwest African provinces of
Africa proconsularis Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
and
Mauretania Mauretania (; ) is the Latin name for a region in the ancient Maghreb. It extended from central present-day Algeria to the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, encompassing northern present-day Morocco, and from the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean in the ...
, the Numidae or Mauri (from whom derives the English term "Moors"), who were the ancestors of the
Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...
people of modern
Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...
and
Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
. They were known as the '' equites Maurorum'' or ''Numidarum'' ("Moorish or Numidian cavalry"). On Trajan's Column, Mauri horsemen, depicted with long hair in dreadlocks, are shown riding their small but resilient horses bare-back and unbridled, with a simple braided rope round their mount's neck for control. They wear no body or head armour, carrying only a small, round leather shield. Their weaponry cannot be discerned due to stone erosion, but is known from Livy to have consisted of several short javelins. Exceptionally fast and maneuverable, Numidian cavalry would harass the enemy by hit-and-run attacks, riding up and loosing volleys of javelins, then scattering faster than any opposing cavalry could pursue. They were superbly suited to scouting, harassment, ambush and pursuit, but in melee combat were vulnerable to cuirassiers. It is unclear what proportion of the Numidian cavalry were regular auxilia units as opposed to irregular ''foederati'' units. In the 3rd century, new formations of light cavalry appear, apparently recruited from the Danubian provinces: the '' equites Dalmatae'' ("Dalmatian cavalry"). Little is known about these, but they were prominent in the 4th century, with several units listed in the ''
Notitia Dignitatum The (Latin for 'List of all dignities and administrations both civil and military') is a document of the Late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very ...
''.


Camel troops

A unit of ''
dromedarii Dromedarii were camel-riding auxiliary forces recruited in the desert provinces of the late Roman Empire in Roman Syria. They were developed to replace horses where these were uncommon. They were also helpful against enemy horses as they fear ca ...
'' ("camel-mounted troops") is attested from the 2nd century, the ''ala I Ulpia dromedariorum milliaria'' in Syria.


Archers

A substantial number of auxiliary regiments (32, or about one in twelve in the 2nd century) were denoted ''sagittariorum'', or archer-units (from ''
sagittarii ''Sagittarii'' (Latin, plural form of ''sagittarius'') is the Latin term for archers. The term ''sagittariorum'' in the title of an infantry or cavalry unit indicated a specialized archer regiment. Regular auxiliary units of foot and horse ...
'' lit. "arrow-men", from ''sagitta'' = "arrow": It. ''saetta'', Rom. ''sageata''). These 32 units (of which four were double-strength) had a total official strength of 17,600 men. All three types of auxiliary regiment (''ala'', ''cohors'' and ''cohors equitata'') could be denoted ''sagittariorum''. Although these units evidently specialised in archery, it is uncertain from the available evidence whether all ''sagittariorum'' personnel were archers, or simply a higher proportion than in ordinary units. At the same time, ordinary regiments probably also possessed some archers, otherwise their capacity for independent operations would have been unduly constrained. Bas-reliefs appear to show personnel in ordinary units employing bows. From about 218 BC onwards, the archers of the
Roman army of the mid-Republic The Roman army of the mid-Republic, also called the manipular Roman army or the Polybian army, refers to the armed forces deployed by the mid-Roman Republic, from the end of the Samnite Wars (290 BC) to the end of the Social War (91–88 BC), So ...
were virtually all mercenaries from the island of
Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...
, which boasted a long specialist tradition. During the late Republic (88–30 BC) and the Augustan period, Crete was gradually eclipsed by men from other, much more populous, regions with strong archery traditions, newly subjugated by the Romans. These included
Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...
,
Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
and above all,
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
. Of the thirty-two ''sagittarii'' units attested in the mid 2nd century, thirteen have Syrian names, seven Thracian, five from Anatolia, one from Crete and the remaining six of other or uncertain origin. Three distinct types of archers are shown on Trajan's Column: (a) with scalar cuirass, conical steel helmet and cloak; (b) without armour, with cloth conical cap and long tunic; or (c) equipped in the same way as general auxiliary foot-soldiers (apart from carrying bows instead of javelins). The first type were probably Syrian or Anatolian units; the third type probably Thracian.Rossi (1971), p.102 The standard bow used by Roman auxilia was the recurved composite bow, a sophisticated, compact and powerful weapon.Goldsworthy (2003), p.137


Slingers

From about 218 BC onwards, the Republican army's slingers were exclusively mercenaries from the Balearic Islands, which had nurtured a strong indigenous tradition of slinging from prehistoric times. As a result, in classical Latin, ''Baleares'' (literally "inhabitants of the Balearic Islands") became an alternative word for "slingers" (''funditores'', from ''funda'' = "sling": It. ''fionda'', Fr. ''fronde''). Because of this, it is uncertain whether most of the imperial army's slingers continued to be drawn from the Balearics themselves, or, like archers, derived mainly from other regions. Independent slinger units are not attested in the epigraphic record of the Principate. However, slingers are portrayed on Trajan's Column. They are shown unarmoured, wearing a short tunic. They carry a cloth bag, slung in front, to hold their shot (''glandes'').


Scouts

''
Exploratores The ''speculatores,'' also known as the ''speculatores augusti'' or the ''exploratores'', were an ancient Roman reconnaissance agency. They were part of the ''consularis'' and were used by the Roman military. The ''speculatores'' were headquarte ...
'' ("reconnaissance troops", from ''explorare'' = "to scout"): Examples include two ''numeri exploratorum'' attested in the 3rd century in Britain: ''Habitanco'' and ''Bremenio'' (both names of forts). Little is known about such units.


Allied forces

Throughout the Principate period, there is evidence of ethnic units of '' barbari'' outside the normal auxilia organisation fighting alongside Roman troops. To an extent, these units were simply a continuation of the old client-king levies of the late Republic: ''
ad hoc ''Ad hoc'' is a List of Latin phrases, Latin phrase meaning literally for this. In English language, English, it typically signifies a solution designed for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a Generalization, generalized solution ...
'' bodies of troops supplied by Rome's puppet petty-kings on the imperial borders to assist the Romans in particular campaigns. Some units, however, remained in Roman service for substantial periods after the campaign for which they were raised, keeping their own native leadership, attire and equipment and structure. These units were variously called by the Romans ''
socii The ''socii'' ( ) or ''foederati'' ( ) were confederates of ancient Rome, Rome and formed one of the three legal denominations in Roman Italy (''Italia'') along with the core Roman citizens (''Cives Romani'') and the extended ''Latin Rights, Lat ...
'' ("allies"), ''symmachiarii'' (from ''symmachoi'', Greek for "allies") or ''
foederati ''Foederati'' ( ; singular: ''foederatus'' ) were peoples and cities bound by a treaty, known as ''foedus'', with Rome. During the Roman Republic, the term identified the '' socii'', but during the Roman Empire, it was used to describe foreign ...
'' ("treaty troops" from ''foedus'', "treaty"). One estimate puts the number of ''foederati'' in the time of Trajan at c. 11,000, divided into c. 40 ''numeri'' (units) of c. 300 men each. The purpose of employing ''foederati'' units was to use their specialist fighting skills. Many of these would have been troops of Numidian cavalry (see
light cavalry Light cavalry comprised lightly armed and body armor, armored cavalry troops mounted on fast horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the mounted riders (and sometimes the warhorses) were heavily armored. The purpose of light cavalry was p ...
above). The ''foederati'' make their first official appearance on Trajan's Column, where they are portrayed in a standardised manner, with long hair and beards, barefoot, stripped to the waist, wearing long trousers held up by wide belts and wielding clubs. In reality several different tribes supported the Romans in the Dacian wars. Their attire and weapons would have varied widely. The Column stereotypes them with the appearance of a single tribe, probably the most outlandish-looking, to differentiate them clearly from the regular auxilia. Judging by the frequency of their appearance in the Column's battle scenes, the ''foederati'' were important contributors to the Roman operations in Dacia. Another example of ''foederati'' are the 5,500 captured Sarmatian cavalrymen sent by Emperor
Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...
() to garrison a fort on Hadrian's Wall after their defeat in the
Marcomannic Wars The Marcomannic Wars () were a series of wars lasting from about AD 166 until 180. These wars pitted the Roman Empire against principally the Germanic peoples, Germanic Marcomanni and Quadi and the Sarmatian Iazyges; there were related conflicts ...
.


Organization

As all-citizen formations and symbolic protectors of the dominance of the Italian "master-nation", legions enjoyed greater social prestige than the auxilia for much of the Principate. This was reflected in better pay and benefits. In addition, legionaries were equipped with more expensive and protective armour than auxiliaries, notably the ''
lorica segmentata The ''lorica segmentata'' (), also called ''lorica lamminata'', or ''banded armour'' is a type of personal armour that was used by soldiers of the Roman army, consisting of metal strips fashioned into circular bands, fastened to internal leath ...
'', or laminated-strip armour. However, in 212, the Emperor
Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname Caracalla (; ), was Roman emperor from 198 to 217 AD, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father and then r ...
granted Roman citizenship to nearly all the Empire's freeborn inhabitants. At this point, the distinction between legions and auxilia became moot, the latter becoming all-citizen units also. The change was reflected in the disappearance, during the 3rd century, of legionaries' special equipment, and the progressive break-up of legions into cohort-sized units like the auxilia. The military chain of command was relatively flat. In each province, the deployed legions' ''legati'' (legion commanders, who also controlled the auxiliary units attached to their legion) reported to the ''
legatus Augusti pro praetore A ''legatus Augusti pro praetore'' () was the official title of the governor or general of some Imperial provinces of the Roman Empire during the Principate era, normally the larger ones or those where legions were based. Provinces were denote ...
'' (provincial governor), who also headed the civil administration. The governor in turn reported directly to the Emperor in Rome. There was no
general staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...
in Rome, but the leading '' praefectus praetorio'' (commander of the Praetorian Guard) often acted as the Emperor's ''de facto'' military chief-of-staff. Compared to the subsistence-level peasant families from which they mostly originated, legionary rankers enjoyed considerable disposable income, enhanced by periodical cash bonuses on special occasions such as the accession of a new emperor. In addition, on completion of their term of service, they were given a generous discharge bonus equivalent to 13 years' salary. Auxiliaries were paid much less in the early 1st century, but by 100 AD, the differential had virtually disappeared. Similarly, in the earlier period, auxiliaries appear not to have received cash and discharge bonuses, but probably did so from the reign of Hadrian onwards. Junior officers (''principales''), the equivalent of
non-commissioned officers A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an enlisted rank, enlisted leader, petty officer, or in some cases warrant officer, who does not hold a Commission (document), commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority b ...
in modern armies, could expect to earn up to twice basic pay. Legionary
centurion In the Roman army during classical antiquity, a centurion (; , . ; , or ), was a commander, nominally of a century (), a military unit originally consisting of 100 legionaries. The size of the century changed over time; from the 1st century BC ...
s, the equivalent of senior
warrant officers Warrant officer (WO) is a Military rank, rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ...
, were organised in an elaborate hierarchy. Usually promoted from the ranks, they commanded the legion's tactical sub-units of ''
centuriae ''Centuria'' (; : ''centuriae'') is a Latin term (from the stem ''centum'' meaning one hundred) denoting military units originally consisting of 100 men. The size of the centuria changed over time, and from the first century BC through most of ...
'' (about 80 men) and
cohort Cohort or cohortes may refer to: Cohort Sociological * Cohort (military unit), the basic tactical unit of a Roman legion * Cohort (educational group), a group of students working together through the same academic curriculum Scientific * Cohort ...
s (about 480 men). They were paid several multiples of basic pay. The most senior centurion, the ''primus pilus'', was automatically elevated to
equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...
rank on completion of his single-year term of office. The senior officers of the army, the ''legati legionis'' (legion commanders), '' tribuni militum'' (legion staff officers) and the '' praefecti'' (commanders of auxiliary regiments) were all of at least equestrian rank. In the 1st and early 2nd centuries, they were mainly Italian aristocrats performing the military component of their ''
cursus honorum The , or more colloquially 'ladder of offices'; ) was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The comprised a mixture of ...
'' (conventional career-path). Later, provincial career officers became predominant. Senior officers were paid enormous salaries, multiples of at least 50 times a soldier's basic pay. Soldiers spent only a fraction of their lives on campaign. Most of their time was spent on routine military duties such as training, patrolling, and maintenance of equipment. Soldiers also played an important role outside the military sphere. They performed the function of a provincial governor's police force. As a large, disciplined and skilled force of fit men, they played a crucial role in the construction of a province's military and civil infrastructure. In addition to constructing forts and fortified defences such as
Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...
, they built roads, bridges, ports, public buildings and entire new cities ('' colonia''), and cleared forests and drained marshes to expand a province's available arable land. Soldiers, mostly drawn from polytheistic societies, enjoyed wide freedom of worship in the polytheistic Roman system. Only a few cults were banned by the Roman authorities, as being incompatible with the official Roman religion or being politically subversive, notably
Druidism A druid was a member of the high-ranking priestly class in ancient Celtic cultures. The druids were religious leaders as well as legal authorities, adjudicators, lorekeepers, medical professionals and political advisors. Druids left no writ ...
and
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
. The later Principate saw the rise in popularity among the military of Eastern
mystery cult Mystery religions, mystery cults, sacred mysteries or simply mysteries (), were religious schools of the Greco-Roman world for which participation was reserved to initiates ''(mystai)''. The main characteristic of these religious schools was th ...
s, generally centred on one deity, and involving secret rituals divulged only to initiates. By far the most popular cult in the army was
Mithraism Mithraism, also known as the Mithraic mysteries or the Cult of Mithras, was a Roman Empire, Roman mystery religion focused on the god Mithras. Although inspired by Iranian peoples, Iranian worship of the Zoroastrian divinity (''yazata'') Mit ...
, an apparently
syncretist Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thu ...
cult which mainly originated in
Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
.


Command structure

Under the Augustan settlement, the Roman Empire formally remained a
republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...
and ultimate military authority was still vested in the
consuls A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...
. However actual power resided with the
governors A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
proconsuls A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...
or lower
promagistrate In ancient Rome, a promagistrate () was a person who was granted the power via ''prorogation'' to act in place of an ordinary magistrate in the field. This was normally ''pro consule'' or ''pro praetore'', that is, in place of a consul or praeto ...
s – who were in charge of all military forces within their
province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
. Hence August moved to secure "supreme proconsular authority" (''
imperium In ancient Rome, ''imperium'' was a form of authority held by a citizen to control a military or governmental entity. It is distinct from '' auctoritas'' and '' potestas'', different and generally inferior types of power in the Roman Republic a ...
proconsulare maius'') from the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
, thereby subjecting the provincial governors to his command and becoming, in effect, commander-in-chief of the Roman army. In addition, the emperor frequently had himself elected as one of the Consuls or Censors. The latter post was especially useful, as it gave him the power to appoint (or remove) members from the roll of Senators and from the Order of Knights, the two aristocratic orders of imperial Rome, which filled all senior administrative and military positions. In the border provinces where military units were mostly stationed (i.e. 15-17 of the 42 Hadrianic provinces), the governors mostly bore the title ''
legatus Augusti pro praetore A ''legatus Augusti pro praetore'' () was the official title of the governor or general of some Imperial provinces of the Roman Empire during the Principate era, normally the larger ones or those where legions were based. Provinces were denote ...
'', although in a few smaller provinces they were known as ''procurator'' or ''praefectus''. The governors, who normally held office for three years, commanded all forces in their provinces, both legions and auxilia, as well as being the heads of the civil administration. The governors reported directly to the emperor – there were no intermediate levels of command. However, there are instances during the Principate where the governors of smaller provinces were subordinated to governors of larger neighbouring ones e.g. the ''praefectus'' (later ''procurator'') of
Judaea Judea or Judaea (; ; , ; ) is a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name's usage is historic, having been used in antiquity and still into the prese ...
was normally subordinate to the ''legatus Augusti'' of
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
. At Rome, there was no army general staff in the modern sense of a permanent central group of senior staff-officers who would receive and analyse military intelligence and advise on strategy. Augustus established a formal ''consilium principis'' ("imperial council") of magistrates and leading senators in rotation to advise him on all state matters and to prepare draft-decrees for submission to the Senate. But the real decisions were made by a semi-formal group of senior officials and close friends, the ''amici principis'' ("friends of the emperor"), whose membership was chosen by himself and might vary from time to time. Under Tiberius, the ''amici'' superseded the formal ''consilium'' and became the effective governing body of the empire. Several ''amici'' would have had extensive military experience, due to the traditional mixing of civilian and military posts by the Principate aristocracy. But there was no ''consilium'' specifically dedicated to military affairs. Commanders of the Praetorian Guard, especially if they did not share their command with a partner, might acquire a predominant influence in military decision-making and act as ''de facto'' military chief-of-staff e.g. Sejanus, who was sole commander of the Guard AD 14–31, most of the emperor
Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...
' rule. The emperor and his advisors relied almost entirely on reports from the 17-odd "military" governors for their intelligence on the security situation on the imperial borders. This is because a central military intelligence agency was never established. The imperial government did develop an internal security unit called the ''
frumentarii The ''frumentarii'' were an ancient Roman military and secret police organization used as an intelligence agency. They began their history as a courier service and developed into an imperial spying agency. Their organization would also carry o ...
''. In military jargon, this term, literally meaning "grain-collectors" (from ''frumentum'' = "grain"), referred to detachments of soldiers detailed to forage food supplies for their units in the field. The term came to be applied to auxiliary soldiers seconded to the staff of the '' procurator Augusti'', the independent chief financial officer of a province, to assist in the collection of taxes (originally in kind as grain). At some point, probably under Hadrian (r. 117–38), the term acquired a very different meaning. A permanent military unit (''numerus'') of ''frumentarii'' was established. Based in Rome, it was under the command of a senior centurion, the ''princeps frumentariorum''. According to
Aurelius Victor Sextus Aurelius Victor ( 320 – 390) was a historian and politician of the Roman Empire. Victor was the author of a now-lost monumental history of imperial Rome covering the period from Augustus to Constantius II. Under the emperor Julian (361 ...
, the ''frumentarii'' were set up "to investigate and report on potential rebellions in the provinces" (presumably by provincial governors) i.e. they performed the function of an imperial secret police (and became widely feared and detested as a result of their methods, which included assassination). Although doubtless well-informed about events in the border-provinces through their network of local agents and spies, it appears that the ''frumentarii'' never expanded beyond internal security to fulfil a systematic military intelligence role. The lack of independent military intelligence, coupled with the slow speeds of communication, prevented the emperor and his ''consilium'' from exercising anything but the most general control over military operations in the provinces. Typically, a newly appointed governor would be given a broad strategic direction by the emperor, such as whether to attempt to annex (or abandon) territory on their province's borders or whether to make (or avoid) war with a powerful neighbour such as Parthia. For example, in Britain, the governor
Gnaeus Julius Agricola Gnaeus Julius Agricola (; 13 June 40 – 23 August 93) was a Roman general and politician responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Britain. Born to a political family of senatorial rank, Agricola began his military career as a military tribu ...
appears to have been given approval for a strategy of subjugating the whole of
Caledonia Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the forested region in the central and western Scottish Highlands, particularly stretching through parts of what are now Lochaber, Badenoch, Strathspey, and possibly as ...
(Scotland) by Vespasian, only to have his gains abandoned by Domitian after AD 87, who needed reinforcements on the Danube front, which was threatened by the Sarmatians and Dacians. However, within these broad guidelines, the governor had almost complete autonomy of military decision-making. In those provinces that contained military forces, the governor's immediate subordinates were the commanders (''legati legionis'') in command of the legions stationed in the province (e.g. in Britain, three ''legati'' reported to the governor). In turn, the legionary commander was reported to by the combat-unit commanders: the ''centuriones pili priores'' in command of the legion's cohorts and the ''praefecti'', in command of the auxiliary regiments attached to the legion. The empire's high command structure was thus remarkably flat, with only four reporting levels between combat-unit commanders and the emperor. An auxiliary regiment would normally, but not always, be attached to a legion for operational purposes, with the ''praefectus'' under the command of the ''
legatus legionis A legate (Latin: , ) was a high-ranking Roman military officer in the Roman army, equivalent to a high-ranking general officer of modern times. Initially used to delegate power, the term became formalised under Augustus as the officer in comman ...
'' (the legion's commander). The period that it was so attached could be a long one ''e.g.'' the eight Batavi ''cohortes'' apparently attached to legion XIV Gemina for the 26 years from the invasion of Britain in AD 43; to the Civil War of 69. However, a legion had no standard, permanent complement of auxilia. Its attached auxiliary units were changed and varied in number according to operational requirements at the behest of the governor of the province where the legion was based at the time or of the emperor in Rome.


Logistics and supply

A critical advantage enjoyed by the imperial army over all its foreign enemies except the Parthians was a highly sophisticated organisation to ensure that the army was properly supplied on campaign. Like their enemies, the army would rely as much as possible on foraging for supplies when campaigning on enemy soil, but this was impractical in winter or even in summer if the land was barren or the enemy employed "scorched-earth" tactics. On Roman territory, foraging was obviously undesirable. The empire's complex supply organisation, as set up under Augustus, enabled the army to campaign in all seasons and in enemy territory. The quantities of food supplies required by an army on campaign were enormous and would require lengthy and elaborate planning for major campaigns. An imperial legion of 5,500 men would require a minimum of 12.5 tonnes of grain-equivalent ''every day''. Thus, Agricola's Caledonian task-force at the
Battle of Mons Graupius The Battle of Mons Graupius was, according to Tacitus, a Roman military victory in what is now Scotland, taking place in AD 83 or, less probably, 84. The exact location of the battle is a matter of debate. Historians have long questioned some ...
, around 25,000-strong, would have required, c. 5,000 tonnes of grain-equivalent for three months' campaigning (plus fodder for the horses and
pack animal A pack animal, also known as a sumpter animal or beast of burden, is a working animal used to transport goods or materials by carrying them, usually on its back. Domestic animals of many species are used in this way, among them alpacas, Bact ...
s). Such vast cargoes would be carried by boat as far as possible, by sea and/or river, and only the shortest possible distance overland. That is because transport on water was in ancient times much faster and more economical than on land (as it remains today, although the differential is smaller).Roth (1998) 221 Land transport of military supplies on the ''
cursus publicus The ''cursus publicus'' (Latin language, Latin: "the public way"; , ''dēmósios drómos'') was the state mandated and supervised courier and transportation service of the Roman Empire, the use of which continued into the Eastern Roman Empi ...
'' (imperial transport service) was typically on wagons (''angariae''), with a typical payload of 650 kg, drawn by two pairs of oxen. During the Principate, large vessels of several hundred tonnes' capacity were not uncommon. A vessel of, say 200 tonnes' capacity, with a 20-man crew, could carry the same load as c. 300 wagons (which required 300 drivers and 1,200 oxen, plus pay for the former and fodder for the animals). A merchant ship would also, with a favourable wind, typically travel three times faster than the typical achieved by the wagons and for as long as there was daylight, whereas oxen could only haul for at most five hours per day. Thus freighters could easily cover per day, compared to c. by the wagons. However, freighters of this capacity were propelled by square sails only and could progress only if there was a following wind, and could spend many days in port waiting for one. (However, coastal and fluvial freighters called ''actuariae'' combined oars with sail and had more flexibility, but smaller capacity, typically 30-40 tonnes). Maritime transport was also completely suspended for at least four months in the winter (as stormy weather made it too hazardous) and even during the rest of the year, shipwrecks were common. Even so, surviving shipping-rates show that it was cheaper to transport a cargo of grain by sea from Syria to
Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province encompassing most of modern-day Portugal (south of the Douro River) and a large portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and Province of Salamanca). Romans named the region after th ...
(i.e. the entire length of the Mediterranean – and a ways beyond – c. 5,000 km) than just overland.Jones (1964) 842 Rivers constituted the vital supply arteries of the army. The establishment of the Rhine-Danube line as the European border of the empire was thus primarily due to its value as a major fluvial supply route, rather than its defensibility. The Rhine and Danube rivers were dotted with purpose-built military docks (''portus exceptionales''). The protection of supply convoys on the rivers was the responsibility of the fluvial flotillas (''classes'') under the command of the governors of provinces along the rivers: by AD 68, and perhaps from the time of Augustus, flotillas had been established on the Rhine (''classis germanica'') and Danube (''classis Histrica''). A grain cargo would first be transported from its region of origin (e.g. from the northern Black Sea region or Egypt) by large seagoing freighter to a port at the mouth of a navigable river (e.g. the Danube). There it would be transferred to a number of smaller-capacity fluvial ''actuariae'', which would transport it up-river to the grain-dock of a legionary fortress. The cargo would then be stored in a purpose-built granary within the fortress, where it would be safe from contamination or decay until it was needed. At the start of the campaigning season, it would be transported, still by river if possible, otherwise overland on wagons, to the tactical base used for operations. From there the campaigning legion would haul its own supplies to its current marching-camp. This was accomplished by a legion's mule-train of c. 1,400 mules. (In addition, each of the legion's 600 ''contubernia'' – 8-man platoons who shared a campaign-tent – possessed one or two mules to carry its tent and other equipment). The driving of the supply mule-train, and the care of the pack-animals, was in the hands of the legion's ''calones'', professional camp-servants, most likely also on the army pay-roll, who accompanied the unit everywhere on campaign. These men were armed as light infantry and given basic combat-training, so that they could protect the mule-train and, in emergencies, the marching-camp itself. 200-300 ''calones'' would accompany each legion. (''Calones'' were distinct from the personal servants – slaves or freedmen – whom officers generally took with them on campaign).


Fortifications

Beyond marching- and training-camps, the imperial army constructed various types of permanent fortifications: the legionary fortress (''castra legionaria''), designed to accommodate an entire legion of 5,000–6,000 men; the auxiliary fort (''castellum''), which normally held an auxiliary regiment of c. 500 men; smaller forts for detachments; watch-towers and signal-stations; border barriers ditches or ramparts; city walls; infrastructure, such as bridges, grain and arms depots, etc. In the 1st century, army fortifications predominantly consisted of earthen ramparts, topped by wooden parapets. Using commonly available materials, these were cheap and quick to construct and provided effective protection, especially from tribal enemies with no artillery or siegecraft skills. However, this type of fortification required constant maintenance: the rampart was vulnerable to soil-slides caused by torrential downpours and to the action of burrowing animals. The wooden parapet was vulnerable to rot, and to heavy missiles launched from catapults and, in dry conditions, to incendiary missiles. From around AD 50, when the empire's borders had begun to stabilise, the army started building fortifications of stone. These were much more expensive and time-consuming to erect, but were invulnerable to most natural threats (except earthquakes), provided much better protection against missiles and needed far less maintenance (many, such as
Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...
, would still be largely intact today if they had not been pillaged for their dressed stones over the centuries). However, earth-and-wood fortifications remained an important part of the empire's defences until c. AD 200, when stone fortifications became the norm.


Size and cost

The first global estimate for the size of the imperial army in the ancient sources is in the ''
Annales Annals are a concise form of historical writing which record events chronologically, year by year. The equivalent word in Latin and French is ''annales'', which is used untranslated in English in various contexts. List of works with titles contai ...
'' of
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...
. In AD 23, shortly after the end of the rule of Augustus, there were 25 legions (about 125,000 men) and "roughly the same number again of auxiliaries" in about 250 regiments. From this base-line of c. 250,000 effectives, the imperial army grew steadily in the 1st and 2nd centuries, almost doubling in size to c. 450,000 by the end of the rule of
Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; ; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through cursus honorum, the ...
(AD 211). The number of legions increased to 33, and auxiliary regiments even more sharply to over 400 regiments. The army under Severus probably reached its peak size for the Principate period (30 BC – AD 284). In the late 3rd century, it is likely that the army suffered a sharp decline in numbers due to the
Crisis of the Third Century The Crisis of the Third Century, also known as the Military Anarchy or the Imperial Crisis, was a period in History of Rome, Roman history during which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressure of repeated Barbarian invasions ...
(235–70) a period of numerous civil wars, major barbarian invasions and above all, the
Plague of Cyprian The Plague of Cyprian was a pandemic which afflicted the Roman Empire from about AD 249 to 262, or 251/2 to 270. The plague is thought to have caused widespread manpower shortages for food production and the Roman army, severely weakening the em ...
, an outbreak of smallpox which may have eliminated as many as a third of the army's effectives. It is possible that, by AD 270, the army was not much greater than in AD 24. From this low point it seems that numbers were substantially increased, by at least a third, under
Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...
():
John the Lydian John the Lydian or John Lydus (; ) ( AD 490 – 565) was a Byzantine administrator and writer. He is considered a key figure in antiquarian studies from the fourth to the sixth century A.D. Although he is a secondary author, his works are signific ...
reports at some point in his reign the army totalled 389,704 men – restoring overall strength to the level attained under Hadrian. The likely trend in the size of the Roman army in the Principate may be summarised as follows:
NOTE: Regular land forces only. Excludes citizen-militias, barbarian ''
foederati ''Foederati'' ( ; singular: ''foederatus'' ) were peoples and cities bound by a treaty, known as ''foedus'', with Rome. During the Roman Republic, the term identified the '' socii'', but during the Roman Empire, it was used to describe foreign ...
'', and
Roman navy The naval forces of the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman state () were instrumental in the Roman conquest of the Mediterranean Basin, but it never enjoyed the prestige of the Roman legions. Throughout their history, the Romans remained a primarily land ...
effectives
It is estimated that the imperial fleets employed 30–40,000 personnel. Adding 10–20,000 barbarian ''foederati'', the military establishment at the time of Severus numbered not far short of half a million men. The impact of the costs of this enormous standing army on the Roman economy can be measured very approximately. Notes:
(a) constant AD 14 ''denarii'' i.e. disregarding increases in military pay to compensate for debasement of coinage
(b) assuming negligible growth in GDP per capita (normal for agricultural economy)
(c) Duncan-Jones 14-84 costs, inflated by increase in army nos. & assuming cash-bonuses and discharge-bonus paid to auxiliaries after 84
(d) assuming 22.5% decline in population due to
Antonine Plague The Antonine Plague of AD 165 to 180, also known as the Plague of Galen (after Galen, the Greek physician who described it), was a prolonged and destructive epidemic, which affected the Roman Empire. It was possibly contracted and spread by so ...
(AD 165–80) (midpoint of 15-30% range)
Army costs thus rose only moderately as a share of GDP between 14 and 150 AD, despite a major increase in army effectives of c. 50%. This is because the empire's population, and therefore total GDP, also increased substantially (by c. 35%). Thereafter, the army's share of GDP leapt by almost half, although army numbers increased only c. 15%. This is due to the Antonine plague, which is estimated by epidemiological historians to have reduced the empire's population by 15-30%. Nevertheless, even in 215, the Romans spent a similar proportion of GDP on defence than today's global superpower, the
United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...
(which spent c. 3.5% in 2003). But the effective burden on taxpayers in an unmechanised agricultural economy with little surplus production (80% of the population depended on
subsistence agriculture Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow crops on smallholdings to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occu ...
and a further 10% were on subsistence income), would have been relatively far heavier. Indeed, a study of imperial taxes in Egypt, by far the best-documented province, concluded that the burden was relatively severe.Duncan-Jones (1994) Military spending swallowed up c. 50-75% of total government budget, as there was little "social" spending, the main items of the latter consisting of prestige construction projects in Rome and the provinces; grain-dole and cash-handouts for Rome's proletariat; and subsidies to Italian families (similar to modern
child benefit Child benefit or children's allowance is a social security payment which is distributed to the parents or guardians of children, teenagers and in some cases, young adult (psychology), young adults. Countries operate different versions of the benefi ...
), to encourage them to produce more children. Augustus instituted this policy, with a one-off payment of 250 ''denarii'' per child. (Additional subsidies to poor Italian families, known as ''alimenta'', were introduced by Trajan).Duncan-Jones (1994) 35


Medical services

The Roman army had a strong interest in looking after the health of its effectives and developed a sophisticated medical service, based on the best medical knowledge and practice of the ancient world (i.e. Greek medicine). The Roman army's medics were highly skilled and possessed enormous practical experience. Although their knowledge was entirely empirical, not analytical, their practices were rigorously tried-and-tested on the battlefield and thus more effective than those available to most armies before the 19th century.Goldsworthy (2003) 100 (Roman army medics were, for example, far more competent than the " quacks" of the 17th and 18th centuries with their lethal practices such as
bleeding Bleeding, hemorrhage, haemorrhage or blood loss, is blood escaping from the circulatory system from damaged blood vessels. Bleeding can occur internally, or externally either through a natural opening such as the mouth, nose, ear, urethr ...
). As with much of the imperial army's organisation, it was Augustus who, drawing on the evolved but ''ad hoc'' practices of the Republican army, established systematic medical services for the army, with a formal medical hierarchy and the construction of large, fully staffed and well-supplied military hospitals (''valetudinaria'') in legionary bases e.g. the fully excavated hospital at ''
Castra Vetera Xanten (, Low Rhenish: ''Santen'') is a town in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the district of Wesel. Xanten is known for the Archaeological Park, one of the largest archaeological open air museums in the wor ...
'' (Xanten, Rhineland). In overall charge of the legion's medical staff and services was the legion's executive officer, the ''praefectus castrorum''.Davies (1989) 214 Directly under him was the ''optio valetudinarii'', or director of the hospital in the legionary fortress, who would have overall charge of its administration and staff.Holder (1982) 78 However, the clinical head of the legion's medical service was the chief physician, called simply the ''Medicus'' (the capital "M" here is used to distinguish from several other ranks of ''medicus''). Most often an ethnic-Greek from the eastern part of the Empire, the ''Medicus'' was generally a highly qualified practitioner, occasionally even a published academic. The most notable example is
Pedanius Dioscorides Pedanius Dioscorides (, ; 40–90 AD), "the father of pharmacognosy", was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of (in the original , , both meaning "On Medical Material") , a 5-volume Greek encyclopedic pharmacopeia on he ...
, an army surgeon in the time of Nero, who published ''
Materia Medica ''Materia medica'' ( lit.: 'medical material/substance') is a Latin term from the history of pharmacy for the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing (i.e., medications). The term derives f ...
'', which remained for centuries the standard textbook on medicine. The rank of the ''Medicus'' is uncertain, but was probably on a par with the military tribunes i.e. equestrian. In many cases, the ''Medicus'' served a short commission, in the role of senior medical consultant, and then returned to civilian life. Reporting to the chief physician were 10 ''medici ordinarii'', qualified medics who were charged with the care of the men of each cohort. These held the rank of centurion. These were trained to handle the whole range of troops' medical problems, but specialists are attested e.g. ''medicus chirurgus'' (surgeon) and a ''medicus ocularis'' (ophthalmologist) in the ''
classis Britannica The ''Classis Britannica'' (literally, ''British fleet'', in the sense of 'the fleet in British waters' or 'the fleet of the province of Britannia', rather than 'the fleet of the state of Britain') was a provincial naval fleet of the navy of an ...
'' (Channel fleet). Underneath the ''ordinarii'' were medical orderlies, some of whom held the rank of ''principales'', the rest as ''milites immunes''. The latter included ''capsarii'' (wound-dressers, from ''capsa'', a type of box in which they carried bandages) and ''seplasarii'' ("ointment-men"), who administered medicines. Auxiliary regiments had their own medics, although on a smaller scale than a legion's. Because of the smaller size of units, there was no equestrian chief physician, but a ''medicus ordinarius''. Also attested are medics who ranked as ''principales'', including a '' veterinarius'' in charge of animal welfare, as well as ''immunes'' on the bottom rung. From Greek medical science, Roman army medics inherited a wide knowledge of the medicinal properties of plants and herbs e.g.
centaury Centaury is a common name for several plants and may refer to: *''Centaurea'', a genus in the Asteraceae containing species sometimes called centaury *''Centaurium'', a genus in the Gentianaceae containing species commonly called centaury **'' Gyra ...
, which was effective in healing wounds and eye diseases. Forts received regular supplies of medicines, and medics also composed herbal remedies themselves. Remains of at least five medicinal plants have been found in fort sites, suggesting that herb-gardens were cultivated inside fort precincts. On the battlefield, medics and orderlies would be on hand behind the lines to treat injured soldiers on the spot. Using a wide range of sophisticated surgical instruments, medics would promptly remove extraneous bodies such as arrow- and spear-heads, clean and disinfect wounds using clean water and medicated wine or beer and stitch them. Orderlies would then bandage them. Speed in cleaning, closing and bandaging the wound was critical, as, in a world without
antibiotics An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting pathogenic bacteria, bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the therapy ...
, infection was the gravest danger faced by injured troops, and would often result in a slow, agonising death.


Personnel

A legion's ranks, role and pay, with auxiliary and modern equivalents, may be summarised as follows: Notes: (1) Elevated by emperor to equestrian rank on completion of single-year term of office Explanation of modern rank comparisons: It is difficult to find precise modern equivalents to the ranks of an ancient, unmechanised army in which aristocratic birth was a pre-requisite for most senior positions. Thus such comparisons should be treated with caution. Nevertheless, some approximate parallels can be found. The ones presented here are based on rank-comparisons used in Grant's translation of the ''
Annales Annals are a concise form of historical writing which record events chronologically, year by year. The equivalent word in Latin and French is ''annales'', which is used untranslated in English in various contexts. List of works with titles contai ...
'' by
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...
. As they mostly rose from the ranks, centurions are compared to modern age Infantryman non commissioned officers verified by many universities "Centurions in early Rome paper", the most senior officers without a commission. An ordinary centurion was in command of a ''centuria'' of 80 men, equivalent to a
company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...
in a modern army, and is thus comparable to a British company sergeant-major (U.S.
first sergeant First sergeant is typically a senior non-commissioned officer rank, used in many countries. Singapore First sergeant is a Specialist (Singapore), specialist in the Singapore Armed Forces. First sergeants are the most senior of the junior spe ...
). Senior centurions, known as ''primi ordinis'' ("of the first order"), consisted of the five commanders of the double-strength ''centuriae'' of the First Cohort (160 men each); and the nine ''pilus prior'' centurions (commanders of the 1st ''centuria'' of each cohort), who in the field are generally presumed by scholars to have been the actual (though not official) commanders of their whole cohort of 480 men, equivalent to a modern
battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...
. A senior centurion is thus likened to a British
regimental sergeant-major Regimental sergeant major (RSM) is an appointment that may be held by a warrant officer (WO) in the British Army, the Royal Marines, and the armies of many other Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations. It is also an actual rank in the Irish ...
(U.S. command sergeant major), the most senior non-commissioned officer in a battalion. The ''primus pilus'', the chief centurion of the legion, has no clear parallel. From the centurionate, the rank-structure jumps to the military tribunes, aristocrats who were directly appointed senior officers and thus comparable to modern
commissioned officers An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...
. Although primarily staff-officers, in the field tribunes could be placed in command of one or more cohorts (
Praetorian Guard The Praetorian Guard (Latin language, Latin: ''cohortes praetoriae'') was the imperial guard of the Imperial Roman army that served various roles for the Roman emperor including being a bodyguard unit, counterintelligence, crowd control and ga ...
cohorts were commanded by tribunes, and in the auxilia, a ''praefectus'', equivalent in rank to a tribune, commanded a cohort-sized regiment). These officers are thus comparable to modern
colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
s, who normally command battalions or regiments in a modern army. Finally, the ''legatus legionis '' was in command of the whole legion (over 5,000 men, equivalent to a modern
brigade A brigade is a major tactical military unit, military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute ...
), plus roughly the same number of auxiliaries in attached regiments, bringing the total to c. 10,000 men, equivalent to a modern division. Thus a ''legatus'' is comparable to a modern
general officer A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...
. The legions thus lacked any equivalent to modern junior commissioned officers (
lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...
to
major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...
). This is because the Romans saw no need to complement their centurions, who were considered fully capable of field commands, with commissioned officers. As a consequence, a chief centurion promoted to ''praefectus castrorum'' would, in modern terms, leap from sergeant-major to the rank of colonel in one bound.


Recruitment


In legions

As had been the case during the Republic, the legions of the Principate era recruited
Roman citizen Citizenship in ancient Rome () was a privileged political and legal status afforded to free individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance. Citizenship in ancient Rome was complex and based upon many different laws, traditions, and cu ...
s exclusively. In the 1st and 2nd centuries, these represented a minority of the empire's inhabitants (about 10–20%). From the time of Augustus, legionary recruitment was largely voluntary. Republican-style conscription of citizens was only resorted to during emergencies which demanded exceptionally heavy recruitment, such as the Illyrian revolt (AD 6–9). Once the borders of the empire stabilised in the mid-1st century, most legions were based in particular provinces long-term. The number of Italian-born recruits dwindled. According to one survey, c. 65% were Italian-born in the early Julio-Claudian period (to AD 41), 49% in the period 42–68, 21% in the Flavian era (69–96) and around 8% under Hadrian. Italians thus represented c. 4% of total army recruits under Hadrian, if one takes into account the auxilia, despite constituting c. 12% of the empire's population, and well over 50% of its citizen-body, in 164. However, it should be borne in mind that many legionary recruits born outside Italy were residents of
Roman colonies Colonies in antiquity were post-Iron Age city-states founded from a mother-city or metropolis rather than from a territory-at-large. Bonds between a colony and its metropolis often remained close, and took specific forms during the period of clas ...
originally established to settle legionary veterans. As descendants of the latter, such recruits were, at least partially, of Italian blood; e.g. the emperor Hadrian, who was born in the Roman colony of ''
Italica Italica () was an ancient Ancient Rome, Roman city in Hispania; its site is close to the town of Santiponce in the province of Seville, Spain. It was founded in 206 BC by Roman general Scipio Africanus, Scipio as a ''Colonia (Roman), colonia'' f ...
'' in Spain and whose
father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological fat ...
was of Italian descent while his mother is thought to have been of local Iberian origin. However, the proportion of legionaries of Italian blood dropped still further as the progeny of auxiliary veterans, who were granted citizenship on discharge, became a major source of legionary recruits. It was probably to redress this shortfall that Marcus Aurelius, faced with a major war against the Marcomanni, raised two new legions in 165, '' II Italica'' and '' III Italica'', apparently from Italian recruits (and presumably by conscription). A major recruitment problem for the legions was that the host provinces often lacked a sufficiently large base of citizens to satisfy their recruitment needs. For example, the
Roman Britain Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of ''Britannia'' after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. Julius Caes ...
province, where Mattingly doubts that the three legions deployed could fill their vacancies from a citizen-body of only c. 50,000 in AD 100 (less than 3% of about two million total inhabitants). This implies that the British legions must have drawn many recruits from elsewhere, especially from northern Gaul. The frontier legions' recruitment problems have led some historians to suggest that the rule limiting legionary recruitment to citizens was largely ignored in practice. But there is much evidence that the rule was strictly enforced e.g. the recorded case of two recruits who were sentenced to be flogged and then expelled from a legion when it was discovered that they had lied about their status. The only significant exception to the rule appears to have concerned the sons of legionaries. From the time of Augustus until the rule of
Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; ; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through cursus honorum, the ...
(), serving legionaries were legally prohibited from marrying (presumably so as to discourage them from deserting if they were deployed far from their families). However, with most legions deployed in the same bases long-term, legionaries often did develop stable relationships and bring up children. The latter, although of Roman blood, were illegitimate in
Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. Roman law also den ...
and thus could not inherit their fathers' citizenship. Nevertheless, it appears that the sons of serving legionaries were routinely recruited, perhaps through the device of granting them citizenship when they enlisted.


In auxilias

In the 1st century, the vast majority of auxiliary common soldiers were recruited from the Roman ''peregrini'' (
second-class citizen A second-class citizen is a person who is systematically and actively discriminated against within a state or other political jurisdiction, despite their nominal status as a citizen or a legal resident there. While not necessarily slaves, ou ...
s). In the Julio-Claudian era (to AD 68),
conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...
of ''peregrini'' seems to have been practiced, probably in the form of a fixed proportion of men reaching military age in each tribe being drafted, alongside voluntary recruitment.Holder (1980), p.123 From the Flavian era onwards, it appears that the auxilia were, like the legions, a largely volunteer force, with conscription resorted to only in times of extreme manpower demands e.g. during
Trajan's Dacian Wars Trajan's Dacian Wars (101–102, 105–106) were two military campaigns fought between the Roman Empire and Dacia during Roman Emperor, Emperor Trajan's rule. The conflicts were triggered by the constant Dacian threat on the Danube, Danubian Rom ...
(101–106). Although recruits as young as 14 are recorded, the majority of recruits (66%) were from the 18–23 age group. When it was first raised, an auxiliary regiment would have been recruited from the native tribe or people whose name it bore. In the early Julio-Claudian period, it seems that efforts were made to preserve the ethnic integrity of units, even when the regiment was posted in a faraway province, but in the later part of the period, recruitment in the region where the regiment was posted increased and became predominant from the Flavian era onwards. The regiment would thus lose its original ethnic identity. The unit's name would become a mere curiosity devoid of meaning, although some of its members might inherit foreign names from their veteran ancestors. This view has to be qualified, however, as evidence from military diplomas and other inscriptions shows that some units continued to recruit in their original home areas, e.g., Batavi units stationed in Britain, where several other units had an international membership.Mattingly (2006), pp.168–169 It also appears that the Danubian provinces (Raetia, Pannonia, Moesia, Dacia) remained key recruiting grounds for units stationed all over the empire. About fifty auxiliary regiments founded by Augustus were, exceptionally, recruited from Roman citizens. This was due to the emergency manpower requirements of the
Illyrian revolt The (Latin for ''War of the Batos'') or Great Illyrian Revolt was a military conflict fought in the Roman province of Illyricum in the 1st century AD, in which an alliance of native peoples of the two regions of Illyricum, Dalmatia and Pannonia ...
(AD 6–9), which was described by the Roman historian
Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is ''De vita Caesarum'', common ...
as the most difficult conflict Rome had faced since the
Punic Wars The Punic Wars were a series of wars fought between the Roman Republic and the Ancient Carthage, Carthaginian Empire during the period 264 to 146BC. Three such wars took place, involving a total of forty-three years of warfare on both land and ...
. Although the Republican minimum property requirement for admission to the legions had long since been abandoned, citizens who were vagrants, convicted criminals, undischarged debtors, or freed slaves (Roman law accorded citizenship to the freed slaves of Roman citizens) were still excluded. Desperate for recruits, Augustus had already resorted to the compulsory purchase and emancipation of thousands of slaves for the first time since the aftermath of the
Battle of Cannae The Battle of Cannae (; ) was a key engagement of the Second Punic War between the Roman Republic and Ancient Carthage, Carthage, fought on 2 August 216 BC near the ancient village of Cannae in Apulia, southeast Italy. The Carthaginians and ...
two centuries earlier. But the emperor found the idea of admitting such men to the legions unpalatable. Therefore, he formed separate auxiliary regiments from them. These units were accorded the title ''civium Romanorum'' ("of Roman citizens"), or ''c.R.'' for short. After the Illyrian revolt, these cohorts remained in being and recruited ''peregrini'' like other auxiliary units, but retained their prestigious ''c.R.'' title. Subsequently, many other auxiliary regiments were awarded the ''c.R.'' title for exceptional merit, an award that conferred citizenship on all their currently serving members. Apart from the citizen-regiments raised by Augustus, Roman citizens were regularly recruited to the auxilia. Most likely, the majority of citizen-recruits to auxiliary regiments were the sons of auxiliary veterans who were enfranchised on their fathers' discharge. Many such men may have preferred to join their fathers' old regiments, which were a kind of extended family to them, rather than join a much larger, unfamiliar legion. Legionaries frequently transferred to the auxilia (mostly promoted to a higher rank).Holder (1980), pp.86–88 The incidence of citizens in the auxilia would thus have grown steadily over time until, after the grant of citizenship to all ''peregrini'' in 212, auxiliary regiments became predominantly, if not exclusively, citizen units. It is less clear-cut whether the regular auxilia recruited ''barbari'' (barbarians, as the Romans called people living outside the empire's borders). Although there is little evidence of it before the 3rd century, the consensus is that the auxilia recruited barbarians throughout their history.Goldsworthy (2003), p.74 In the 3rd century, a few auxilia units of clearly barbarian origin start to appear in the record e.g. ''Ala I Sarmatarum'', ''cuneus Frisiorum'' and ''numerus Hnaufridi'' in Britain.Mattingly (2006), p.223


Army soldiers

At the bottom end of the rank pyramid, rankers were known as ''caligati'' (lit: "sandalled men" from the ''
caliga ''Caligae'' (Latin; : ) are heavy-soled hobnailed military sandal-boots that were worn as standard issue by Roman legionary foot-soldiers and auxiliaries, including cavalry. History ''Caligae'' (: ''caliga'') are heavy-duty, thick-soled op ...
e'' or hob-nailed sandals worn by soldiers), or simply as ''milites'' ("soldiers"). Depending on the type of regiment they belonged to, they held the official ranks of ''pedes'' (foot-soldier in a legion or auxiliary ''cohors''), ''eques'' (cavalryman in legionary cavalry or an auxiliary ''cohors equitata'') and ''eques alaris'' (''ala'' cavalryman). A new recruit under training was known as a ''tiro'', and received half-pay. Soldiers' working lives were arduous. As well as facing the hardships of military discipline and training, and the dangers of military operations, soldiers fulfilled a large number of other functions, such as construction workers, policemen, and tax collectors (see below,
Everyday life Everyday life, daily life or routine life comprises the ways in which people typically act, think, and feel on a daily basis. Everyday life may be described as mundane, routine, natural, habitual, or Normality (behavior), normal. Human diurna ...
). It has been estimated from the available data that only an average of c. 50% of recruits survived their 25-year term of service. This mortality rate was well in excess of the contemporary demographic norm for the 18–23 age-group. An indication of the rigours of military service in the imperial army may be seen in the complaints aired by rebellious legionaries during the great mutinies that broke out in the Rhine and Danube legions on the death of Augustus in AD 14. "Old men, mutilated by wounds are serving their 30th or 40th year. And even after your official discharge, your service is not finished. For you stay on with the colours as a reserve, still under canvas - the same drudgery under another name! And if you manage to survive all these hazards, even then you are dragged off to a remote country and settled in some waterlogged swamp or untilled mountainside. Truly the army is a harsh, unrewarding profession! Body and soul are reckoned at two and a half ''
sesterces The ''sestertius'' (: ''sestertii'') or sesterce (: sesterces) was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions. During the Roman Empire it was a large brass coin. The name ''sester ...
'' a day - and with this you have to find clothes, weapons, tents and bribes for brutal centurions if you want to avoid chores. Heaven knows, lashes and wounds are always with us! So are hard winters and hardworking summers..." "The soldiers' reply was to tear off their clothes and point to the scars left by their wounds and floggings. There was a confused roar about their wretched pay, the high cost of exemptions from duty, and the hardness of the work. Specific reference was made to earthworks, excavations, foraging, collecting timber and firewood..." The gross and net pay of legionaries and auxiliaries may be summarised as follows: Basic legionary pay was set at 225 ''denarii'' per annum under Augustus. Until at least AD 100, auxiliary soldiers were apparently paid less than their legionary counterparts. In the early Julio-Claudian period, it has been suggested that an auxiliary foot-soldier was paid only a third the rate of a legionary (although an ''eques alaris'' was paid two-thirds). By AD 100, the differential had narrowed dramatically. An auxiliary ''pedes'' was paid 20% less than his legionary counterpart at the time of
Domitian Domitian ( ; ; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was Roman emperor from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavian dynasty. Described as "a r ...
() (but an ''eques cohortalis'' the same and an ''eques alaris'' 20% more). General military pay was increased by 33% ''denarii'' under Domitian (r.81-96). Septimius Severus (r. 197–211) increased the rate by a further 25%, and then his successor Caracalla (r. 211–8) by 50% again. But in reality, these pay rises only more-or-less covered price inflation over this period, which is estimated at c. 170% by Duncan-Jones. Since the debasement of the central silver coinage, the ''denarius'', roughly reflected general inflation, it can be used as a rough guide to the real value of military pay: Furthermore, a soldier's gross salary was subject to deductions for food and equipment. The latter included weapons, tents, clothing, boots and hay (probably for the company mules). These deductions would leave the 1st-century legionary with a modest disposable income of c. 115 ''denarii'', and an auxiliary 78 ''denarii''. A legionary's daily pay-rate of 2.5 ''
sesterces The ''sestertius'' (: ''sestertii'') or sesterce (: sesterces) was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions. During the Roman Empire it was a large brass coin. The name ''sester ...
'' was only marginally greater than a common day-labourer in Rome could expect in this period (typically two ''sesterces'' per day). Such modest remuneration for a tough service raises the question of how the imperial army succeeding in raising sufficient volunteers with only the occasional recourse to conscription. The reason is that the comparison with a Rome day-labourer is misleading. The vast majority of the army's recruits were drawn from provincial peasant families living on
subsistence farming Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow crops on smallholdings to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occ ...
i.e. farmers who after paying rent, taxes and other costs were left with only enough food to survive: the situation of c. 80% of the Empire's population. To such persons, any disposable income would appear attractive, and the physical rigours of army service no worse than back-breaking drudgery in the fields at home. In any case, where a peasant family had more children than its plot of land could support, enlistment of one or more sons in the military would have been a matter of necessity, rather than choice. In addition, soldiers enjoyed significant advantages over day-labourers. They had job security for life (assuming they were not dishonourably discharged). Legionaries could count on irregular but substantial cash bonuses (''donativa''), paid on the accession of a new emperor and on other special occasions; and, on completion of service, a substantial discharge-bonus (''praemia'') equivalent to 13 years' gross pay, which would enable him to buy a large plot of land. Auxiliaries were exempt from the annual poll-tax payable by all their fellow-''peregrini'' and were rewarded on discharge with Roman citizenship for themselves and their heirs. Duncan-Jones argues that, at least from the time of Hadrian, auxiliaries also received ''donativa'' and ''praemia''. Finally, a ranker had a one in twenty chance of increasing his pay by 50-100% by gaining promotion to the rank of ''principalis'' or junior officer. Out of 480 men, a typical cohort would contain 24 junior officers (other than specialists). The great mutinies of AD 14, which were about pay and conditions – as distinct from later revolts in support of a contender for the imperial throne – were never repeated. The reason they occurred at all was probably because, at the time, many legionaries were still conscripts (mostly enlisted during the Illyrian revolt crisis of AD 6–9) and the majority still Italians. This made them far less tolerant of the hardships of military life than provincial volunteers. Italians were by this stage used to a higher standard of living than their provincial subjects, largely due to a massive effective subsidy by the latter: Italians had long been exempt from direct taxation on land and heads and, at the same time, rents from the vast imperial and private Roman-owned estates carved out by conquest in the provinces largely flowed to Italy. Thus, a central demand of the 14 CE mutineers was that legionary pay be increased from 2.5 to 4 ''sesterces'' (1 ''denarius'') per day. This was conceded by Tiberius in order to pacify the mutiny, but soon revoked as unaffordable, and pay remained at roughly the same real level into the 3rd century. Rankers with specialist skills were classed as ''milites immunes'' ("exempt soldiers"), meaning that they were exempt from the normal duties of their fellow-soldiers so that they could practice their trade. A legion would contain over 600 ''immunes''.Holder (1982) 72 Over 100 specialist jobs are attested, including the all-important
blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
s (''fabri''), among whom the ''scutarii'' ("shield-men"), probably smiths that specialised in weapons manufacture or repair, and other craftsmen who worked in the ''fabrica''; ''carpentarii'' ("wagon-makers/repairers", or, generally, "carpenters"); ''capsarii'' (wound-dressers) and ''seplasiarii'' ("ointment-men"), medical orderlies who worked in the ''valetudinarium'' (hospital in a legionary fortress) or ''hospitium'' (auxiliary fort hospital); ''balniator'' (bath attendant); and ''cervesarius'' (beer-brewer). It is uncertain, however, whether the latter two jobs were held by ''milites immunes'' or by civilians working for the unit on contract. ''Immunes'' were on the same pay-scale as other rankers.


Legionary officers


''Principales''

Below centurion rank, junior officers in the ''centuria'' were known as ''principales''. ''Principales'', together with some specialists, were classified in two pay-scales: ''sesquiplicarii'' ("one-and-a-half-pay soldiers") and '' duplicarii'' ("double-pay soldiers").Goldsworthy (2003), p.94 These ranks probably most closely resembled the modern ranks of
corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...
and
sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...
respectively. A higher rank of ''triplicarius'' ("triple-pay soldier") is attested very rarely in the 1st century and this pay-scale was probably short-lived. ''Sesquiplicarii'' included the ''
cornicen A (: ) was a junior officer in the Roman army. The 's job was to signal salutes to officers and sound orders to the legions. The played the (making him an ). always marched at the head of the centuries, with the tesserarius, tesserary and t ...
'' (horn-blower), who blew the '' cornu'', a long, three-piece circular horn. Above him was the ''
tesserarius A ''tesserarius'' (, from ''tessera'', a small tile or block of wood on which watchwords were written) was a watch commander in the Roman army. They organized and had command over the nightly guard assigned to keep watch over the fort when in gar ...
'' (literally "tablet-holder", from ''tessera'' = "wax tablet", on which the daily password was inscribed), who was the officer of the watch. ''Duplicarii'', in ascending order of rank, were the ''
optio In a Roman army an (, from , 'to choose', so-called because superior officers chose the ; : ) held a rank in a (century) similar to that of an executive officer. The main function of an was as an , the second-in-command of a century, alth ...
'', or centurion's deputy, who was appointed by his centurion and would expect to succeed him when the latter was promoted. While a centurion led his unit from the front in battle, his ''optio'' would bring up the rear. Responsible for preventing rankers from leaving the line, the ''optio'' was equipped with a long, silver-tipped stave which was used to push the rear ranks forward. Ranking just below centurion was the ''
signifer A ''signifer'' () was a standard bearer of the Roman legions. He carried a ''signum'' ( standard) for a cohort or century. Each century had a ''signifer'' so there were 60 in a legion. Within each cohort, the first century's ''signifer'' woul ...
'' (standard-bearer), who bore the ''centurias ''signum''. In the field, the ''signifer'' wore the skin of a wolf's head over his own. At the legionary level, the ''vexillarius'' had charge of the commander's ''
vexillum The ''vexillum'' (; : ''vexilla'') was a flag-like object used as a War flag, military standard by units in the Roman army. A common ''vexillum'' displayed imagery of the Aquila (Roman), Roman ''aquila'' on a reddish backdrop. Use in Roman arm ...
'', or banner, and accompanied the ''legatus'' in the field. The ''aquilifer'' bore the legion's ''aquila'' standard, and wore a lion's head. He accompanied the chief centurion, as did the legion's ''imaginifer'', who bore a standard with the emperor's image. All these standard-bearers were ''duplicarii''.


''Centuriones'' and ''decuriones''

Between junior officers (''principales'') and senior officers (''tribuni militum''), the Roman army contained a class of officers called
centurion In the Roman army during classical antiquity, a centurion (; , . ; , or ), was a commander, nominally of a century (), a military unit originally consisting of 100 legionaries. The size of the century changed over time; from the 1st century BC ...
s (''centuriones'', singular form: ''centurio'', literally "commanders of 100 men") in the infantry and Decurion (military), decurions (''decuriones'', singular form ''decurio'', literally "commanders of 10 men") in the auxiliary cavalry. These officers commanded the basic tactical units in the army: a centurion headed a ''centuria'' (company, 80 men-strong) in the infantry (both legionary and auxiliary) and a decurion led a ''turma'' (squadron, 30-men strong) in the auxiliary cavalry (in the small contingents of legionary cavalry, squadron-leaders were called centurions). Broadly speaking, centurions and decurions were considered to be of corresponding rank. The great majority of rankers never advanced beyond ''principalis''. The few who did became centurions, a rank they would normally attain after 13–20 years of service to reach this level. Promotion to the centurionate, known to the Romans simply as the ''ordo'', or "rank", was normally in the hands of the ''legatus legionis''. However, the latter occasionally followed the Republican tradition and allowed the men of a ''centuria'' to elect their own centurion. Although most centurions rose from the ranks, there are a few instances attested of young men who were directly appointed centurions on enlistment: these were mostly the sons of active or retired centurions.Fields (2009) 36 Centurions were arguably the most important group of officers in the army, as they led the legions' tactical sub-units (cohorts and ''centuriae'') in the field. In consequence, on becoming a centurion, a soldier's pay and prestige would undergo a quantum-leap. Centurions were paid far more than their men. The available evidence is scant, but suggests that, in the 2nd century, an ordinary centurion was paid 16 times the pay of a ranker. If so, the differential had widened dramatically since the days of the Punic Wars, when a centurion was paid just double the rate of a ranker i.e. was a ''duplicarius'' in imperial terms. By the time of Caesar, the standing of centurions had already greatly increased: in 51 BC, after an especially tough campaign during the Gallic War, Caesar promised his troops a bonus of 50 ''denarii'' per man, and 500 each to the centurions, indicating that a differential of 10 times was commonplace even in the late Republic. Each legion contained 60 (later 59) centurions, ranked in an elaborate hierarchy. Each of the 10 cohorts was ranked in seniority, the 1st Cohort (whose ''centuriae'', after about AD 80, were double-strength) being the highest. Within each cohort, each of its six ''centuriae'', and thus of its commanding centurion, was likewise ranked. Within this hierarchy, three broad ranks can be discerned: centurions (''centuriones ordinarii''), senior centurions (''centuriones primi ordinis'' or "first-rank centurions") and the legion's chief centurion (''centurio primus pilus''). Senior centurions included those in command of the five ''centuriae'' in the 1st Cohort and the ''centuriones pilus prior'' ("front-spear") centurions of the other nine cohorts (i.e. the centurions in command of the 1st ''centuria'' of each cohort, who many historians believe, was also in ''de facto'' command of the whole cohort).Fields (2009) 35 All centurions, including the ''primus pilus'', were expected to lead their units from the front, on foot like their men, and were invariably in the thick of any combat melee. As a consequence, their casualty rates in battle were often heavy. An example from Caesar's ''De Bello Gallico'', during a battle against the Belgae, Belgic tribes of northern Gaul (57 BC): "Caesar had gone to the right wing, where he found the troops in difficulties... All the centurions of the 4th cohort [of the 12th legion] were dead, and the standard lost; nearly all the centurions of the rest of the cohorts were either killed or wounded, including the chief centurion, P. Sextius Baculus, a very brave man, who was so disabled by serious wounds that he could no longer stand on his feet." Or again, in a later battle against Vercingetorix at ''Gergovia'' (52 BC): "Attacked from all sides, our men held their ground until they had lost 46 centurions..." In battle, centurions were also responsible for the security of their unit's standard, whose bearer, the ''signifer'', stayed close to his centurion on the battlefield. The chief centurion was accompanied by the ''aquilifer'' and had the even weightier responsibility of protecting the legion's ''Aquila (Roman), aquila'' (eagle-standard). Centurions were also responsible for discipline in their units, symbolised by the ''vitis'' or vine-stick which they carried as a badge of their rank. The stick was by no means purely symbolic and was frequently used to beat recalcitrant rankers. Tacitus relates that one centurion in the army in Pannonia gained the nickname ''Da mihi alteram!'' ("Give-me-another!") for his propensity to break his stick over his men's backs and then shout at his ''optio'' to bring him a new one.Tacitus ''Ann.'' Centurions often earned the hatred of their men, as shown during the great mutinies which broke out on the Rhine-Danube borders on the death of Augustus. In one legion, each centurion was given 60 lashes of the flail by the mutineers, to represent the legion's total number of centurions, and was then thrown into the Rhine to drown. Outside the military sphere, centurions performed a wide range of administrative duties at a senior level, which was necessary in the absence of an adequate bureaucracy to support provincial governors. A centurion might serve as a ''regionarius'', or supervisor of a provincial district, on behalf of the provincial governor. They were also relatively wealthy individuals, due to their high salaries. In retirement, they often held high civic positions in the councils of Roman ''coloniae'' (veterans' colonies).Goldsworthy (2003), p.72 However, in social rank, the great majority of centurions were commoners, outside the small senatorial and equestrian elites which dominated the empire. In the class-conscious system of the Romans, this rendered even senior centurions far inferior in status to any of the legion's ''tribuni militum'' (who were all of equestrian rank), and ineligible to command any unit larger than a ''centuria''. This is probably the reason why a cohort did not have an official commander. (However, many historians believe that a cohort in the field was under the de facto command of its leading centurion, the ''centurio pilus prior'', the commander of the cohort's 1st ''centuria'').Goldsworthy (2003) Until c. AD 50, centurions had been able to command auxiliary regiments, but the emperor Claudius restricted these commands to Knights. The only escape-route for centurions from this "class-trap" was to reach the highest grade of ''centurio primus pilus''. On completing his single-year term of office, the chief centurion of each legion (i.e. some 30 individuals each year) was elevated to the Roman knight, Order of Knights by the emperor. Normally, an outgoing ''primus pilus'' (known as a ''primipilaris'') would be promoted to ''praefectus castrorum'' (quartermaster and third officer) of a legion or to prefect of an auxiliary regiment or to tribune of a Praetorian cohort in Rome. Beyond these posts, the senior command-positions reserved for knights were in theory open to ''primipilares'': command of the imperial fleets and of the Praetorian Guard, and the governorships of equestrian provinces (most importantly, Egypt). But in practice, ''primipilares'' rarely progressed to these posts due to their age (unless they were in the minority of centurions directly appointed as young men). It would take a ranker a median of 16 years just to reach centurion-rank and probably the same again to reach ''primus pilus''. Most ''primipilares'' would thus be in their 50s when elevated to the Order of Knights, and already eligible for retirement, having completed 25 years' service. (In contrast, hereditary knights would be appointed to military tribunates of a legion and command of auxiliary regiments in their 30s, leaving plenty of time to move on to the senior posts).


''Tribuni militum''

Each legion contained six senior officers, five of equestrian and one of senatorial rank, called ''tribuni militum'' ("tribunes of the soldiers"). The title "tribune" derives from the fact that in Republican days, they were elected by the Roman people's assembly (''comitia centuriata'') from the ranks of Roman knights. The elected officers would stand on the ''tribunal'' (dais). Originally the elected tribunes took turns to command their legion in pairs (see
Roman army of the mid-Republic The Roman army of the mid-Republic, also called the manipular Roman army or the Polybian army, refers to the armed forces deployed by the mid-Roman Republic, from the end of the Samnite Wars (290 BC) to the end of the Social War (91–88 BC), So ...
). Under Julius Caesar, command of legions became informally entrusted to single officers dubbed ''legati'' ("chosen ones") appointed by the
proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a Roman consul, consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military ...
, or governor, of the province in which the legions were stationed. This position was formalised under Augustus. In the imperial army, the tribunes thus became staff-officers to the ''legatus''. Formally, tribunes were entrusted with the legion's administration and paperwork, for which purpose they were each provided with a small personal staff of ''principales'' and military clerks (''cornicularii''). Tribunes' military role was apparently kept ill-defined and flexible, so as to provide the legion commander with a small group of senior officers to carry out special tasks. Tribunes could be asked to command detachments of one or more cohorts; command specialist units, such as a flotilla; lead special operations; supervise fortification projects or the collection of supplies. In a pitched battle scenario, the available evidence does not permit a clear picture of a tribune's role. For example, Caesar relates (57 BC): "Noticing that the 7th legion, which was nearby, was also under heavy pressure, Caesar ordered the military tribunes to gradually join together the two legions [the 7th and the 12th] and form a square formation, so that they could advance against the enemy in any direction." Or again (52 BC): "Caesar ordered the trumpeters to sound the retreat and the 10th legion, which was with him, immediately halted their advance. But the other legions did not hear the signal, as they were separated by a wide depression, although the legates and military tribunes did their best to hold them back, in accordance with Caesar's orders." This evidence is consistent with two possible battle-roles for tribunes. A tribune may have played a formal role in command of a sector of the legion's battle-line. Alternatively, tribunes may have accompanied the ''legatus'' around the field, ready to convey his orders to particular senior centurions, or to assume command of a particular sector of the line at the behest of the ''legatus''. In either case, as Roman knights, tribunes would move around the battle-field on horseback, not on foot like the centurions, and they would generally remain outside the fray, in order to maintain a strategic overview of the field. The legion's five equestrian tribunes were known as ''angusticlavii'' ("narrow-banded", from the stripes a Roman knight was entitled to wear on his ''tunica'', which was narrower than a senator's). They differed from their senatorial colleague, the ''laticlavius'' ("broad-banded"), in age, rank and experience. Before embarking on their military service (''tres militiae''), their normal ''cursus honorum'' required them to perform the full range of administrative and religious posts in the council of their home city. Minimum-age limits for such posts implied that they would be at least 30 before starting the ''tres militiae''. By the time they became tribune of a legion, they would already have led an auxiliary cohort for three or four years, giving them substantial command experience. There is no evidence regarding the pay of military tribunes. But since they ranked on a level with the commanders of auxiliary regiments, who were paid c. 50 times more than rankers, it is safe to assume that tribunes were paid a similar multiple of legionary's pay. Tribunes' pay would in any case have fallen somewhere between the 16-multiple of centurions and the 70-multiple of ''legati''.


''Praefectus castrorum''

The legion's third officer was the ''praefectus castrorum'' ("prefect of the camp"), a post mostly filled by former chief centurions. These would typically be in their 50s, having earned their equestrian status by a lifetime of experience at the sharp end of legionary activity. Officially, the role of the ''praefectus'' was, as the title implies, that of camp quartermaster, in charge of the legion's headquarters and supplies. But with their enormous experience, the ''praefectus'' role extended much further, to acting as executive officer to the ''legatus'', advising on all manner of military operations. In the absence of the ''legatus'', the ''praefectus'' would normally deputise for him, under the nominal command of the ''laticlavius''. From the time of
Gallienus Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (; – September 268) was Roman emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to 268. He ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century that nearly caused the collapse of the empire. He ...
(), these officers were routinely placed in command of their legion.


''Tribunus laticlavius''

The legate's nominal second-in-command was the single military tribune of senatorial rank attached to the legion, the ''laticlavius'' (literally: "broad-banded", referring to the wide stripe men of senatorial rank wore on their ''tunica''). Typically the son of a senator (sometimes the legate's own son), and aged in his early twenties, he was performing his military service before seeking election as ''quaestor'' and thereby gaining a seat in the Senate (for which the minimum age was 25 years). His lack of military experience did not prevent him leading important combat missions. In the highly status-conscious Roman social system, his high birth would have commanded the automatic respect of even the most experienced commoner.


''Legatus legionis''

The commander of an imperial legion was known as the ''legatus legionis''. He was typically a senator of praetorian rank i.e. he had held the post of praetor, implying that he would normally be in his mid-30s. His military experience would be limited to that gained as serving in his early twenties as ''tribunus laticlavius''. As a consequence, he would rely heavily on the advice of his enormously experienced ''praefectus castrorum''. The evidence suggests that a ''legatus'' would be paid c. 70 times a ranker's salary.


Auxiliary officers


''Principales''

An auxiliary regiment's junior officers appear broadly the same as in the legions. These were, in ascending order: ''tesserarius'', ''optio'', ''signifer'' (standard-bearer for the ''centuria''). However, auxiliary regiments also attest a ''custos armorum'' ("keeper of the armoury"), on pay-and-a-half. The ''vexillarius'', bore the regiment's standard, on double-pay. In addition, the ''turma'' of an ''ala'' appear to have contained a ''curator'' on double-pay, ranking just below decurion, apparently in charge of horses and caparison.Birley (2002), p.47


''Praefecti auxiliorum''

In the early Julio-Claudian period, the commanders of the auxiliary units (''praefecti auxiliorum'') were often senior centurions and so ranked below the legionary tribunes. The position changed under Claudius, who restricted command of auxiliary regiments to men of equestrian rank. Furthermore, an equestrian military ''cursus honorum'' became established, known as the ''tres militiae'' ("three commands"), each held for 3–4 years: command of an auxiliary cohort, followed by military tribune of a legion, followed by command of an ''ala''. These reforms had the effect of elevating ''praefecti'' to the same rank as legionary tribunes. Under Hadrian, a fourth ''militia'', command of a double-strength ''ala milliaria'' was established for especially proficient officers. It appears that in the 2nd century, the majority of auxiliary prefects were still of Italian origin. In contrast, the evidence for the 3rd century is that Italians provided less than a third of prefects. The pay of a ''praefectus'' of an auxiliary regiment in the early 2nd century has been estimated at over 50 times that of a ''miles'' (common soldier). (This compares to a full
colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
in the British Army, who is currently paid about five times a private's salary). The reason for the huge gap between the top and the bottom of the pyramid is that Roman society was far more hierarchical than a modern one. A ''praefectus'' was not just a senior officer. He was also a Roman citizen (which most of his men were not) and, as a member of the equestrian order, an aristocrat. The social gulf between the ''praefectus'' and a ''peregrinus'' soldier was thus immense, and the pay differential reflected that fact.


Identity


Unit names and numbers

The numbering of the legions is confusing, due to duplicated and inconsistent numeration by various emperors. Several legions shared the same serial number with others. Augustus numbered the legions he founded himself from I, but at the same retained the serial numbers of those legions he inherited from his predecessors. This policy was generally followed by those of his successors who also founded new legions (there were thus many legions numbered I). However, even this practice was not consistently followed. For example,
Vespasian Vespasian (; ; 17 November AD 9 – 23 June 79) was Roman emperor from 69 to 79. The last emperor to reign in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years. His fiscal reforms and consolida ...
formed two new legions out of units disbanded in disgrace after the Civil War of 68–9, but gave them the same serial numbers (but different titles) as the disbanded ones.
Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...
numbered the first legion he founded XXX because there were 29 other legions in existence at that time; but the second Trajanic legion was given the serial number II. XVII, XVIII and XIX, the numbers of the legions annihilated in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, Teutoburg Forest, were never used again. (No titles are recorded in surviving ancient sources for these three legions, suggesting that their titles may have been deliberately suppressed due to their disgrace). As a result of this somewhat chaotic numeration, it became necessary to accord a title, as well as a serial number, to each legion in order to distinguish between legions with the same number. The geographical titles indicate (a) the country where a legion was originally recruited e.g. ''Italica'' = from Italy or (b) peoples the legion vanquished, e.g.,''Parthica'' = victorious over the Parthian Empire, Parthians. Legions bearing the personal name of an emperor, or of his ''gens'' (clan) (e.g., ''Augusta'', ''Flavia'') were either founded by that Emperor or accorded the name as a mark of special favour. The nomenclature of the great majority of auxiliary regiments followed a standard configuration: unit type (''ala'' or ''cohors''), followed by serial number, followed by name of the ''peregrini'' tribe (or nation) from whom the regiment was originally raised, in the genitive (possessive) plural case e.g. ''cohors III Batavorum'' ("3rd Cohort of Batavi"); ''cohors I Brittonum'' ("1st Cohort of Britons"). Some regiments combine the names of two ''peregrini'' tribes, most likely after the merger of two previously separate regiments e.g. ''ala I Pannoniorum et Gallorum'' ("1st Wing of Pannonians and Gauls"). A minority of regiments are named after an individual, mostly after the first prefect of the regiment e.g. ''ala Sulpicia'' (presumably named after a prefect whose middle (''gens'') name was Sulpicius). The latter is also an example of the minority of regiments that did not carry a serial number. After the tribal name, one or more epithets could be added, to further describe the regiment: ''equitata'' (infantry cohort with a cavalry contingent attached); ''sagittariorum'' (archer unit) etc.


Titles

Legions often carried several titles, awarded after successive campaigns, normally by the ruling emperor, e.g., ''legio XII Fulminata, XII Fulminata'' also boasted: ''paterna'' ("senior"), ''victrix'' ("victorious"), ''antiqua'' ("venerable"), ''certa constans'' ("reliable, steadfast") and ''Galliena'' ("(the emperor)
Gallienus Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (; – September 268) was Roman emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to 268. He ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century that nearly caused the collapse of the empire. He ...
's favourite"). ''Pia fidelis'' ("dutiful, loyal"), ''fidelis constans'' and others were titles awarded to several legions, sometimes several times to the same legion. Auxiliary regiments were often rewarded for meritorious service by the grant of an honorific title. The most sought-after title was the prestigious ''c.R.'' (''civium Romanorum'' = "of Roman citizens"). In the latter case, all the regiment's members at the time, but not their successors, would be granted Roman citizenship. But the regiment would retain the c.R. title in perpetuity. Another common title was the ''gens'' name of the emperor making the award (or founding the regiment) e.g. ''Ulpia'': the ''gens'' name of
Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...
(Marcus Ulpius Traianus r.98–117). Other titles were similar to those given to the legions e.g. ''pia fidelis'' (''p.f.'' = "dutiful and loyal").Goldsworthy (2003), p.97


Standards

Each tactical unit in the imperial army, from ''centuria'' upwards, had its own standard. This consisted of a pole with a variety of adornments that was borne by dedicated standard-bearers who normally held the rank of ''duplicarius''. Military standards had the practical use of communicating to unit members where the main body of the unit was situated, so that they would not be separated, in the same way that modern tour-group guides use umbrellas or flags. But military standards were also invested with a mystical quality, representing the divine spirit (''genius'') of the unit and were revered as such (soldiers frequently prayed before their standards). The loss of a unit's standard to the enemy was considered a terrible stain on the unit's honour, which could only be fully expunged by its recovery. The standard of a ''centuria'' was known as a ''signum'', which was borne by the unit's ''signifer''. It consisted of a pole topped by either an open palm of a human hand or by a spear-head. The open palm, it has been suggested, originated as a symbol of the Maniple (military unit), maniple (''manipulus'' = "handful"), the smallest tactical unit in the
Roman army of the mid-Republic The Roman army of the mid-Republic, also called the manipular Roman army or the Polybian army, refers to the armed forces deployed by the mid-Roman Republic, from the end of the Samnite Wars (290 BC) to the end of the Social War (91–88 BC), So ...
. The poles were adorned with two to six silver discs (the significance of which is uncertain). In addition, the pole would be adorned by a variety of cross-pieces (including, at bottom, a crescent-moon symbol and a tassel). The standard would also normally sport a cross-bar with tassels.Goldsworthy (2003) 134 The standard of a Praetorian cohort or an auxiliary cohort or ''ala'' was known as a ''
vexillum The ''vexillum'' (; : ''vexilla'') was a flag-like object used as a War flag, military standard by units in the Roman army. A common ''vexillum'' displayed imagery of the Aquila (Roman), Roman ''aquila'' on a reddish backdrop. Use in Roman arm ...
'' or banner. This was a square flag, normally red in colour, hanging from a crossbar on the top of the pole. Stitched on the flag would be the name of the unit and/or an image of a god. An exemplar found in Egypt bears an image of the goddess Victory on a red background. The ''vexillum'' was borne by a ''vexillarius''. A legionary detachment (''vexillatio'') would also have its own ''vexillum''. Finally, a ''vexillum'' traditionally marked the commander's position on the battlefield. The exception to the red colour appears to have been the Praetorian Guard, whose ''vexilla'', similar to their clothing, favoured a blue background. From the time of Gaius Marius, Marius (consul 107 BC), the standard of all legions was the ''Aquila (Roman), aquila'' ("eagle"). The pole was surmounted by a sculpted eagle of solid gold, or at least gold-plated silver, carrying thunderbolts in its claws (representing Jupiter (mythology), Jupiter, the highest Roman god. Otherwise the pole was unadorned. No exemplar of a legionary eagle has ever been found (doubtless because any found in later centuries were melted down for their gold content). The eagle was borne by the ''aquilifer'', the legion's most senior standard-bearer. So important were legionary eagles as symbols of Roman military prestige and power, that the imperial government would go to extraordinary lengths to recover those captured by the enemy. This would include launching full-scale invasions of the enemy's territory, sometimes decades after the eagles had been lost e.g. the expedition in 28 BC by Marcus Licinius Crassus (consul 30 BC), Marcus Licinius Crassus against Genucla (Isaccea, near modern Tulcea, Rom., in the Danube delta region), a fortress of the Getae, to recover standards lost 33 years earlier by Gaius Antonius Hybrida, Gaius Antonius, an earlier
proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a Roman consul, consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military ...
of Macedonia (Roman province), Macedonia. Or the campaigns of AD 14–17 to recover the three eagles lost by Publius Quinctilius Varus, Varus in AD 6 in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, Teutoburg Forest. Under Augustus, it became the practice for legions to carry portraits (''imagines'') of the ruling emperor and his immediate family members. An ''imago'' was usually a bronze bust carried on top of a pole like a standard by an ''imaginifer''. From around the time of Hadrian (r. 117–38), some auxiliary ''alae'' adopted the dragon-standard (''draco'') commonly carried by Sarmatian cavalry squadrons. This was a long cloth wind-sock attached to an ornate sculpture of an open dragon's mouth. When the bearer (''draconarius'') was galloping, it would make a strong hissing-sound. Image:Denarius Mark Anthony-32BC-legIII.jpg, Image:Antoninianus Carausius leg4-RIC 0069v.jpg, Antoninianus minted under Carausius. On the reverse, the lion, symbol of the Legio IV Flavia Felix, and the legend LEG IIII FL. Image:Sestertius Philip 247-lv lxiii.jpg, Sestertius minted in 248 by Philip the Arab to celebrate the province of Roman Dacia, Dacia and its legions, Legio V Macedonica, V ''Macedonica'' and XIII ''Gemina''. Note the eagle symbol on the reverse of legio V [left] File:Gallienus legio VII Claudia.jpg,
Gallienus Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (; – September 268) was Roman emperor with his father Valerian from 253 to 260 and alone from 260 to 268. He ruled during the Crisis of the Third Century that nearly caused the collapse of the empire. He ...
coin, celebrating LEG VII CLA VI P VI F (''Seventh legion Claudia, six times faithful, six times loyal''), and bearing the bull, symbol of the Legio VII Claudia, on the reverse. File:Yorkshire Museum, York (Eboracum) (7685208580) 2.jpg, Memorial to Lucius Duccius Rufinus, a standard bearer of the Legio IX Hispana, Yorkshire Museum, York Image:Sestertius Philip 247-lv lxiii.jpg, Sestertius minted in 248 by Philip the Arab to celebrate the province of Roman Dacia, Dacia and its legions, Legio V Macedonica, V ''Macedonica'' and XIII ''Gemina''. Note the lion, symbol on the reverse of the legio XIII (right). File:Aureus Septimius Severus-193-leg XIIII GMV.jpg, Aureus minted in 193 by Septimius Severus, to celebrate Legio XIV Gemina, XIIII ''Gemina Martia Victrix'', the legion that proclaimed him emperor. Legion emblem was the Capricornus, Capricorn. File:Emblem of 20th Legion Roof tile, Deva Victrix (Chester, UK), The Grosvenor Museum (8394899150).jpg,


Decorations

The Roman army awarded a variety of individual decorations (''dona'') for valour to its legionaries. ''Hasta pura'' was a miniature gold spear; ''phalerae'' were large medal-like bronze or silver discs worn on the cuirass; ''armillae'' were bracelets worn on the wrist; and torc, torques were worn round the neck, or on the cuirass. The highest awards were the ''coronae'' ("crowns"), of which the most prestigious was the ''Civic Crown, corona civica'', a crown made oak-leaves awarded for saving the life of a fellow Roman citizen in battle. The most valuable award was the ''corona muralis/vallaris'', a crown made of gold awarded to the first man to scale an enemy wall/rampart. This was awarded rarely, as such a man hardly ever survived.Goldsworthy (2003), p.96 There is no evidence that auxiliary common soldiers received individual decorations like legionaries, although auxiliary officers did. Instead, the whole regiment was honoured by a title reflecting the type of award e.g. ''torquata'' ("awarded a torque") or ''armillata'' ("awarded bracelets"). Some regiments would, in the course of time, accumulate a long list of titles and decorations e.g. ''cohors I Brittonum Ulpia torquata pia fidelis c.R.''.


Equipment

The basic equipment of an imperial foot-soldier was essentially the same as in the manipular Roman army of the Republic: metal armour cuirass, metal helmet, shield and sword. However, new equipment – the ''
lorica segmentata The ''lorica segmentata'' (), also called ''lorica lamminata'', or ''banded armour'' is a type of personal armour that was used by soldiers of the Roman army, consisting of metal strips fashioned into circular bands, fastened to internal leath ...
'' and the rectangular version of the ''Scutum (shield), scutum'' – was developed for legionaries, although apparently not made available to auxiliaries.


Weapons manufacture

In the 2nd century, there is evidence of ''fabricae'' (arms factories) inside legionary bases and even in the much smaller auxiliary forts, staffed mainly by the soldiers themselves. But, unlike for the Late Roman army of the 4th century onwards, there is no evidence, literary or archaeological, of ''fabricae'' outside military bases and staffed by civilians during the Principate (although their existence cannot be excluded, as no archaeological evidence has been found for the late ''fabricae'' either).


Armour

''Lorica segmentata'': Modern tests have shown that this ''lorica'' provided better protection to weapon-blows and missile-strikes than the other types of metal armour commonly used by Roman troops, mail (''hamata'') or scale (''squamata''), being virtually impenetrable by ancient weapons. However, historical Historical reenactment, re-enactors have found replicas of the ''lorica'' uncomfortable due to chafing and can generally only wear them for relatively short periods. It was also more expensive to manufacture and difficult to maintain due to its complex design of separate laminated strips held together by braces and hooks. The bas-reliefs of Trajan's Column, a monument erected in 113 in Rome to commemorate the conquest of Dacia by Emperor
Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...
(), are a key source for Roman military equipment. Auxilia are generally shown wearing chain-mail or simple leather corslets, and carrying oval shields (''clipei''). Legionaries are depicted wearing ''lorica segmentata'' at all times (whether in combat or in other activities, such as construction) and with curved rectangular shields. But the figures in Trajan's Column are highly stereotyped, in order to distinguish clearly between different types of troops. On another Trajanic monument, the Tropaeum Traiani, Adamclisi Tropaeum, the ''lorica segmentata'' does not appear at all, and legionaries and auxilia alike are depicted wearing either chain-mail or scales. There is general recognition that the Adamclisi monument is a more accurate portrayal of normality, with the ''segmentata'' used rarely, maybe only for set-piece battles and parades. It has been suggested that the ''lorica'' may have been used by auxiliaries also. But there is no firm evidence for this. Traces of this type of armour have been found in forts in Raetia from a time when no legions were stationed in the province. But these may simply have been left behind by legionaries on temporary detachment. Furthermore, auxilia are nowhere depicted wearing such armour. The provision of more protective and expensive armour to legionaries was probably due to non-military reasons: the army was highlighting their social superiority, just as it did with higher pay. During the 3rd century, when all ''peregrini'' were granted citizenship, and therefore legionaries lost their social superiority, the ''lorica segmentata'' and the rectangular shield disappeared. During the 3rd century, the ''segmentata'' appears to have been dropped and troops are depicted wearing chain mail (mainly) or scale, the standard armour of the 2nd century auxilia. Officers generally seem to have worn bronze or iron cuirasses, as during the Republic, together with traditional ''pteruges''.


Helmets

In the Julio-Claudian era (30 BC – AD 69), it appears that soldiers continued to use the types of helmet used by the army of the Republic since about 250 BC: the Montefortino helmet, Montefortino-type and Coolus helmet, Coolus-type. From about 70 AD onwards, these were replaced by more sophisticated designs, the so-called Imperial helmet, "Imperial Italic" and "Imperial Gallic" types. The aim of these innovations was to increase protection, whilst not obstructing the soldier's senses and mobility. The "Imperial Gallic"- type which predominated from about AD 70 onwards, is a good illustration. The helmet features hinged cheek-guards covering the largest possible part of the face without restricting the soldier's breathing, sight and shouting-range. A horizontal ridge across the front of the bowl acted both as nose- (and face)-guard and as reinforcement against downward cuts on the bowl. Ear-guards protrude from the side of the helmet, but do not obstruct hearing. A shallow neck-guard was angled to the bowl to prevent chafing against the metal cuirass.


Shields

The legionary ''
scutum The ''scutum'' (; :''scuta'') was a type of shield used among Italic peoples in antiquity, most notably by the army of ancient Rome starting about the fourth century BC. The Romans adopted it when they switched from the military formation of ...
'' (plural form: ''scuta''; derivation: It. ''scudo'', Sp. ''escudo'', Fr. ''écu''; Rom. ''scut''), a convex rectangular shield, appeared for the first time in the Augustan era, replacing the oval shield of the army of the Republic. Shields, from examples found at Dura and Nydam, were of vertical plank construction, the planks glued, and faced inside and out with painted leather. The edges of the shield were bound with stitched rawhide, which shrank as it dried improving structural cohesion. It was also lighter than the edging of copper alloy used in earlier Roman shields. The ''scutum'' disappeared during the 3rd century. All troops adopted the auxiliary oval (or sometimes round) shield (''clipeus'').


Hand weapons

The ''gladius, gladius hispaniensis'' (adopted by the Romans from an Iberian design, probably during the First Punic War (260-41 BC), was a short (median length: 450 mm) stabbing-sword that was designed for close-quarters fighting. It was standard for the Principate infantry (both legionary and auxiliary). The cavalry used the ''
spatha The spatha was a type of straight and long sword, measuring between , with a handle length of between , in use in the territory of the Roman Empire during the 1st to 6th centuries AD. Later swords, from the 7th to 10th centuries, like the Viking ...
'' (It. ''spada'', French ''épée'', Sp. ''espada'', Rom. ''spada''), a longer (median length: 760 mm) sword that allowed longer reach and easier swing. The Roman Legions also carried a small side arm called a ''
pugio The ''pugio'' (; plural: ''pugiones'') was a dagger used by Roman soldiers as a sidearm. It seems likely that the ''pugio'' was intended as an auxiliary weapon, but its exact purpose for the soldier remains unknown though it seems it could have ...
''.


Missiles

Legionaries were equipped with the developed version of the ''
pilum The ''pilum'' (; : ''pila'') was a javelin commonly used by the Roman army in ancient times. It was generally about long overall, consisting of an iron shank about in diameter and long with a pyramidal head, attached to a wooden shaft by eith ...
'', a heavy javelin (throwing-spear) that had been used by Roman soldiers since around 250 BC. This weapon had lead counterweights to assist stability in flight and penetration; a barbed point to prevent withdrawal from flesh or shield; and a buckling shank to prevent it being thrown back. During the Republic, legionaries had been equipped with two of these, but now appear to have carried only one. Modern tests have shown the effective range of these javelins to be about 15 m. It appears that auxiliaries were not equipped with a ''pilum'', but with a light spear. Archers of the imperial army were equipped with the recurved composite bow as their standard. This was a sophisticated, compact and powerful weapon, suitable for mounted and foot archers alike (the cavalry version being more compact than the infantry's).


Clothing

In the 1st and 2nd centuries, a Roman soldier's clothes consisted of a single-piece, short-sleeved tunic whose hem reached the knees and special hob-nailed sandals (''caligae''). This attire, which left the arms and legs bare, had evolved in a Mediterranean climate and was not suitable for northern Europe in cold weather. In northern Europe, long-sleeved tunics, trousers (''bracae''), socks (worn inside the ''caligae'') and laced boots were commonly worn in winter from the 1st century. During the 3rd century, these items of clothing became much more widespread, apparently common in Mediterranean provinces also. However, it is likely that in warmer weather, trousers were dispensed with and ''caligae'' worn instead of socks and boots.


Strategy and tactics


Imperial expansion strategy

Under Augustus, the European borders of the empire he inherited from his grand-uncle Julius Caesar were considerably expanded. During the first half of his sole rule (27 BC – 14 AD), Augustus' central strategic objective was to advance the Roman border from Illyricum (Roman province), Illyricum and Macedonia (Roman province), Macedonia to the line of the
Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
, Europe's greatest river, in order both to increase strategic depth between the border and Italy and to provide a major fluvial supply route for the Roman armies in the region. The strategy was successfully executed: Moesia (29–7 BC), Noricum (16 BC), Raetia (15 BC) and
Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, on the west by Noricum and upper Roman Italy, Italy, and on the southward by Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia and upper Moesia. It ...
(12–9 BC) were annexed in steady succession. After settling the Danube border, Augustus turned his attention to the North, where Julius Caesar had in 51 BC established the border of Roman Gaul along the river Rhine river, Rhine, the second major European fluvial route. Augustus launched an ambitious strategy of advancing the Rhine border to the river
Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...
, aiming to incorporate all the warlike Germanic peoples, Germanic tribes. This would eliminate their chronic threat to Gaul, increase strategic depth between free Germans and Gaul, and make the western Germans' formidable manpower available to the Roman army. But a Early Imperial campaigns in Germania, massive and sustained military effort (6 BC – AD 9) came to nothing. Roman advances in Germania Magna (i.e., Germany outside the empire) had to be scaled down during the Great Illyrian Revolt of AD 6–9, when many troops were diverted to Illyricum. Then Augustus' expansion strategy suffered a crushing setback when some 20,000 Roman troops were ambushed and massacred by the Germans at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9. After this, Augustus shelved his Elbe strategy. It was apparently revived briefly by his successor Tiberius, whose nephews, the generals Germanicus and Drusus Julius Caesar, Drusus, launched major and successful operations in Germania in AD 14–17, during which the main tribes responsible for Varus' defeat were crushed and the three lost legionary ''aquilae'' (eagle-standards) were recovered. If Tiberius ever contemplated advancing the border to the Elbe, by AD 16 he had clearly abandoned the idea and decided to keep the border at the Rhine. Most likely, he assessed the Germanic tribes as too powerful and rebellious to incorporate successfully into the empire. After this, plans to annex western Germania were never seriously revived by Augustus' successors. Under the Flavian dynasty, Flavian emperors (69–96), the Romans annexed the trans-Rhenane region they called the Agri Decumates, i.e., roughly the territory of the modern southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg. But this acquisition was strictly aimed at shortening the lines of communication between the legionary bases of Germania Superior and Raetia provinces (Mainz and Strasbourg in Germania Superior and Augst and Regensburg in Raetia), by incorporating the salient between the upper reaches of the Rhine and Danube rivers. It was not part of a renewed effort to subdue Germany as far as the Elbe. Doubtless mindful of the costly failure of his Elbe strategy, Augustus reportedly included a clause in his will advising his successors not to attempt to expand the empire further. In the main, this advice was followed, and few major permanent annexations were made for the duration of the
Principate The Principate was the form of imperial government of the Roman Empire from the beginning of the reign of Augustus in 27 BC to the end of the Crisis of the Third Century in AD 284, after which it evolved into the Dominate. The principate was ch ...
. The main exceptions were (a) Britain, which was invaded by the emperor
Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...
in AD 43 and was progressively subdued (as far as the River Tyne, Tyne-Solway Firth, Solway, line of the later
Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...
) in 43–78. However, the stiff, prolonged resistance offered by native tribes seemingly confirmed Augustus' warning, and reportedly led the emperor
Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...
at one stage to seriously consider withdrawing from Britain altogether; and (b) Dacia, conquered by
Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...
in 101–6. In both cases, it appears that, apart from the emperors' self-glorification, the primary motivations were probably the target-countries' mineral resources and also to prevent those countries becoming bases for anti-Roman resistance in Gaul and Moesia respectively. Apart from Britain and Dacia, other major territorial acquisitions by ambitious emperors were swiftly abandoned by their immediate successors, who took a more realistic view of the value and defensibility of the new possessions: # In Britain, governor
Gnaeus Julius Agricola Gnaeus Julius Agricola (; 13 June 40 – 23 August 93) was a Roman general and politician responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Britain. Born to a political family of senatorial rank, Agricola began his military career as a military tribu ...
was in AD 79 apparently authorised by emperor
Vespasian Vespasian (; ; 17 November AD 9 – 23 June 79) was Roman emperor from 69 to 79. The last emperor to reign in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years. His fiscal reforms and consolida ...
to launch the conquest of
Caledonia Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the forested region in the central and western Scottish Highlands, particularly stretching through parts of what are now Lochaber, Badenoch, Strathspey, and possibly as ...
, thus bringing the whole island under Roman rule. But in 85, by which time Agricola's troops had advanced as far north as Inverness, the project was apparently cancelled by the emperor
Domitian Domitian ( ; ; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was Roman emperor from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavian dynasty. Described as "a r ...
, who needed reinforcements for the troubled Danube front. Agricola was dismissed and archaeology shows that the Romans abandoned the Scottish Highlands and withdrew to the Firth of Forth, Forth-River Clyde, Clyde isthmus; and that by 110, Roman forts in the Scottish Lowlands had also been evacuated, returning the border to the Tyne-Solway line. This prompted Agricola's son-in-law, the historian
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...
, to comment that "the complete subjugation of Britain was achieved but immediately given up" (''perdomita Britannia et statim missa''). (Two further attempts to annex the Lowlands – by Antoninus Pius (r. 138–61), who built the Antonine Wall along the Forth-Clyde isthmus, and by
Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; ; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through cursus honorum, the ...
(r. 197–211), were likewise abandoned by their successors). # The Parthian province of Mesopotamia, annexed by Trajan in 116, was evacuated by his successor
Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...
in 118. # Hadrian also withdrew, by 126 (cf: the establishment of the ''Limes Transalutanus''), from a large portion of Decebal's former Dacian kingdom, shortly after its conquest in 107 by Trajan: Moldavia, eastern Wallachia and the Banat (SE Hungarian Plain) were abandoned to Free Dacian and Sarmatian tribes. The most likely reason was that these regions did not possess significant mineral resources and were considered too difficult to defend. #
Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...
' reported plans to annex ''Sarmatia'' (i.e. the
Hungarian Plain The Great Hungarian Plain (also known as Alföld or Great Alföld, or ) is a plain occupying the majority of the modern territory of Hungary. It is the largest part of the wider Pannonian Plain (however, the Great Hungarian Plain was not part ...
, which formed a salient between Roman Pannonia and Dacia, then under the control of the warlike
Iazyges The Iazyges () were an ancient Sarmatians, Sarmatian tribe that traveled westward in 200BC from Central Asia to the steppes of modern Ukraine. In , they moved into modern-day Hungary and Serbia near the Pannonian steppe between the Danube ...
Sarmatian tribe) and ''Marcomannia'' (Bavaria/Austria north of the Danube, the territory of the Marcomanni and Quadi Germanic tribes) were only partially accomplished by the time the emperor died in 180 and even these gains were promptly abandoned by his son and successor Commodus. The Rhine-Danube line thus remained the permanent border of the Empire in Europe for most of the Principate, with the exceptions of the Agri Decumates and Dacia. (Even these two salients were given up in the late 3rd century: the Agri Decumates were evacuated in the 260s and Dacia by 275. It appears that the Romans had exhausted the recoverable mineral wealth of Dacia and that both salients had become too expensive to defend). In the East, despite a certain amount of see-sawing in the disputed buffer-zone of Armenia, the long-term border with the Parthian empire was settled along the upper Euphrates River and the Arabian Desert. In North Africa, the Sahara Desert provided a natural barrier. As the borders became settled, the Roman army gradually mutated from an army of conquest to one of strategic defence, with long-term, fortified bases for the legions and strings of auxiliary forts along the imperial borders. The strategy adopted to ensure border security and the role required of the army by that strategy is discussed in Imperial Roman army#Border security strategy, Border security strategy, below. In a different category are the Roman troops deployed to protect the Greek cities on the northern shores of the Black Sea (Pontus Euxinus). These cities controlled trade in the vital resources of the northern Black Sea region (principally grain from Sarmatia and metals from the Caucasus region). Olbia (Ukraine), Pontic Olbia and the Roman client-states of the Bosporan kingdom and Colchis hosted Roman garrisons for much of the Principate era. But here the Romans relied on tame native monarchies rather than direct annexation. By this means, the Black Sea was turned into a Roman "lake" inexpensively.


Border security strategy

According to Theodor Mommsen, the imperial Roman army relied on a "forward" or "preclusive" defence strategy, a view generally accepted by modern scholarship: cf. Edward Luttwak's ''Grand Strategy of the Roman Army'' (1977). Forward-defence aimed at neutralizing imminent barbarian incursions before they reached the imperial borders. This was achieved by stationing units (both legions and auxilia) on or near the border. Luttwak argued that annexations such as the Agri Decumates and Dacia were aimed at providing the Roman Army with "strategic salients", which could be used to attack enemy formations from more than one direction, although this has been doubted by some scholars. According to Luttwak, the Roman response to any threat would be a pincer movement into barbarian territory: large infantry and cavalry forces from the border bases would immediately cross the border to intercept the coalescing enemy army; simultaneously the enemy would be attacked in the rear by elite Roman cavalry (''alae'') advancing from the strategic salient(s). In any event, forward-defence obviously required the army to maintain first-rate and timely intelligence of events in the barbarian borderlands, which was provided by a system of small forts and fortified watch-towers in the cross-border regions, and by continuous cross-border patrols and scouting-operations (''explorationes''). Forward defence was buttressed by imperial diplomacy, which was guided by two general strategies: firstly, preventing and breaking up large confederations of bordering barbarian tribes under powerful and charismatic native leaders, who could threaten imperial hegemony and border security e.g. Arminius of the Cherusci, Maroboduus of the Marcomanni and Decebalus of the Dacians i.e. the strategy of ''divide et impera'' ("divide and rule"). The demise of charismatic barbarian leaders was achieved by supporting rival candidates for the leadership with money and/or direct intervention; encouraging constituent or neighbouring tribes of the confederation to attack the leaders' own core tribe; and full-scale invasion by Roman forces. Secondly, coercing all bordering native tribes into treaties of mutual assistance with Rome. Although the conditions of these treaties might vary considerably, they all contained the same core bargain: the Romans would promise to help defend the ally from attack by its neighbours; in return, the ally would promise to refrain from raiding imperial territory, and to prevent other tribes from the ally's hinterland from crossing its territory to do the same. Neighbouring barbarian peoples were thus used as the empire's first line of defence. In many cases, the loyalty of the ally would need to be reinforced by gifts or regular subsidies. In some cases, the Romans would assume a loose suzerainty over the tribe, in effect dictating the choice of new chiefs. These practices were applied on all the frontiers: Germans along the Rhine, Sarmatians along the Danube, Armenian kings and Caucasian and Saracen tribes on the Eastern frontier and Mauri in North Africa. Recalcitrant tribes which resisted inclusion in this client-state system (or attempted to break away from it e.g. by overthrowing a pro-Roman leader, as happened on frequent occasions) would suffer coercion in the form of punitive incursions by the Roman army, accompanied by scorched-earth tactics: the Romans would systematically ravage the tribe's crops and destroy its livestock and burn its villages until exhaustion and starvation forced the barbarians to come to terms. The forward-defence strategy was highly successful in protecting the empire's borders until the late 2nd century. No barbarian invasions succeeded in penetrating far into Roman territory until the Marcomanni and Quadi in 167–8, the first to penetrate Italy since the Cimbri in 101 BC, reaching as far as ''Opitergium'' (Oderzo), near Venice (see
Marcomannic Wars The Marcomannic Wars () were a series of wars lasting from about AD 166 until 180. These wars pitted the Roman Empire against principally the Germanic peoples, Germanic Marcomanni and Quadi and the Sarmatian Iazyges; there were related conflicts ...
). In the 3rd century, barbarian invasions increased in frequency, culminating in the disastrous period 250–70, when large parts of the empire were repeatedly overrun by Germanic and Sarmatian tribes (see Third Century Crisis). The reasons for the breakdown of the defensive system are much debated. According to Luttwak, the forward defence system was always vulnerable to unusually large barbarian concentrations of forces, as the Roman army was too thinly spread along the enormous borders to deal with such threats. In addition, the lack of any reserves to the rear of the border entailed that a barbarian force that successfully penetrated the perimeter defenses would have unchallenged ability to rampage deep into the empire before Roman reinforcements could arrive to intercept them. Another factor was the empire's greater political instability in the 3rd century, Until AD 192, the tiny Italian-dominated senatorial oligarchy that monopolised military, political and economic power in the empire, and from whose ranks emperors were chosen, succeeded in maintaining a remarkable degree of political stability: the only major episode of civil strife was the Year of the Four Emperors, Civil War of 68-9. But in the third century, power shifted to the so-called "military emperors", Illyrian and Thracian provincials of often humble backgrounds who rose to the throne through the ranks of the army: supreme power was no longer the preserve of the Italian aristocracy. This encouraged many successful generals to attempt to seize power: consequently the soldiers of the 3rd century spent as much time fighting against each other as against the barbarians.


Marching order and camps

It is during the mid- Roman Republic that emerged a central feature of Roman military practice, which was adhered to until at least c. AD 400 if not beyond: the fortified marching-camp (''castra''), whose earliest detailed description is provided by the Greek historian Polybius.Vegetius I.21 Roman troops would construct a fortified camp, with a standardised size and layout, at the end of each day's march. Most of their adversaries would rely on camping on defensible features (such as hilltops) or in places of concealment (such as in forests or swamps).Polybius VI.42 Although this practice spared troops the toil of constructing fortifications, it would frequently result in camps often being situated on unsuitable ground (i.e. uneven, waterlogged or rocky) and vulnerable to surprise attack, if the enemy succeeded in scouting its location. The advantages of fortified marching-camps were substantial. Camps could be situated on the most suitable ground: i.e. preferably level, dry, clear of trees and rocks, and close to sources of drinkable water, forageable crops and good grazing for horses and pack-animals. Properly patrolled, fortified camps made surprise attacks impossible and successful attacks rare – in fact, no case is recorded in the ancient literature of a Roman marching-camp being successfully stormed. The security afforded by fortified camps permitted soldiers to sleep soundly, while animals, baggage and supplies were safely corralled within its precinct. If the army engaged an enemy near a marching-camp, a small garrison of a few hundred men would suffice to defend the camp and its contents. In case of defeat, fleeing soldiers could take refuge in their marching-camp. e.g. after their disaster on the battlefield of Cannae (216 BC), some 17,000 Roman troops (out of a total deployment of over 80,000) escaped death or capture by fleeing to the two marching-camps that the army had established nearby, according to Livy. The process of establishing a marching-camp would start when the general in command of an army determined the general area where the day's march would terminate. A detail of officers (a military tribune and several centurions), known as the ''mensores'' ("measurers"), would be charged with surveying the area and determining the best location for the ''praetorium'' (the commander's tent), planting a standard on the spot. Measured from this spot, a square perimeter would be marked out. Along the perimeter, a ditch (''fossa'') would be excavated, and the spoil used to build an earthen rampart (''agger'') on the inside of the ditch. On top of the rampart was erected a palisade (''vallum'') of cross-hatched wooden stakes with sharpened points.Polybius VI.34 Within this precinct, a standard, elaborate plan was used to allocate space, in a pre-set pattern, for the tents of each of the various components of the army: officers, legionary infantry and legionary cavalry, auxiliary infantry and cavalry, and barbarian allies. The idea was that the men of each unit would know exactly in which section of the camp to pitch its tents and corral its animals. The construction of a marching-camp would take an army just a couple of hours, since most soldiers would participate and were equipped with picks and shovels for the purpose.


Battle tactics

What is known about the tactics of the Imperial Era is largely conjectural. There is no surviving manual that describes in great detail any tactics that were utilized in this period, nor are the existing accounts of battles particularly helpful due to vagueness.Goldsworthy, Adrian. The Complete Roman Army. Thames and Hudson, p. 178 When there were open field battles, the Roman usually made use of a multiple line system in order to have reserves available. Reserves were important factors in battle as the reinforcements both increased morale of those already in the front lines and also brought fresh troops to continue to push the enemy back. The leaders of the army rode behind the front line to see when and where to commit the reserves. They could reinforce wavering units to prevent a penetration in the main battle line or help a unit that was beating back the enemy make a breakthrough. This had to be done carefully as committing reserves too early would not achieve any progress, while tiring the troops engaged in prolonged fighting. Waiting too long to commit reserves could cause the first line to collapse and start spreading panic throughout the entire army.Goldsworthy, Adrian. The Complete Roman Army. Thames and Hudson, p. 185 Battles started with both lines marching towards each other to clash in hand-to-hand combat. In contrast with their foes, who often tried to demoralize their enemies with shouts and other loud noises, the Romans kept quiet as they marched toward their onrushing foes. When the opponents came within a range of about 10 to 15 meters, or 30 to 50 feet, each legionnaire would throw his
pilum The ''pilum'' (; : ''pila'') was a javelin commonly used by the Roman army in ancient times. It was generally about long overall, consisting of an iron shank about in diameter and long with a pyramidal head, attached to a wooden shaft by eith ...
at the enemy formation and charge accompanied by loud shouts and cornu trumpets. The double shock of the sudden change in demeanor of the Romans and the volley of pila would often cause great damage to the enemy morale. If the Romans succeeded in breaking the enemy, they would aggressively pursue the fleeing army to inflict as many casualties as possible. This pursuit of the enemy was led by the cavalry. The idea was to force the enemy into submission or cause them to be fearful of future battles with the Romans.


Siege tactics

Large, open battles in the field were somewhat infrequent during this time. The armies were often occupied with counter-guerilla actions which led to a siege of the stronghold of the enemy. During sieges, the Roman Legions came to rely on missile power. This can be seen during the First Jewish–Roman War, Jewish Revolt. In the siege of Jotapata in AD 68, Vespaianus or
Vespasian Vespasian (; ; 17 November AD 9 – 23 June 79) was Roman emperor from 69 to 79. The last emperor to reign in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for 27 years. His fiscal reforms and consolida ...
was said to have at least 350 artillery pieces along with 7,000 auxiliary archers. He used these to bombard the enemy fortifications to start each day's attack. When Titus, Vespaianus' son, laid siege to the city of Jerusalem two years later, he reportedly had 700 pieces of artillery.Anglim, Simon, et al. Fighting Techniques of the Ancient World 3000 BC - AD 500. Thomas Dunne, p. 67 This multitude of missiles helped cover the legions advancing towards the walls of the besieged settlements. The famous testudo formation, testudo ("tortoise") formation was utilized to protect the advancing legions. This was done by having the front rank hold out their shields in such a way as to overlap the shields of the men next to them and protect most of the body. The ranks behind the first rank raised their
scutum The ''scutum'' (; :''scuta'') was a type of shield used among Italic peoples in antiquity, most notably by the army of ancient Rome starting about the fourth century BC. The Romans adopted it when they switched from the military formation of ...
above their own head so that it covered the man in front of him. These shields overlapped those in front of them, creating a shield roof over the entire unit's head. The soldiers at the end of each rank held out their shield sideways to complete the shell of shields. This and other formations were used to assault walls.


Everyday life

Soldiers generally spent only a fraction of their working lives on campaign. Most of their time was taken up with a wide range of other military and non-military duties.


Fort duties

Non-military duties on-site included the routine chores of fort life (cleaning, washing clothes and equipment, feeding horses and pack-animals) and working in the fort's ''fabrica'' (workshop where armour, weapons and other equipment were made and repaired). The army demanded high standards of personal hygiene and cleanliness from its troops, and provided them with the necessary sanitary facilities. Wells were excavated inside forts and aqueducts built to nearby springs to provide a continuous and plentiful supply of fresh, drinkable water. Latrines in the fort were continually flushed by gravity-flowing water, and elaborate drains and sewers would discharge the raw sewage into nearby streams and rivers. An essential and burdensome activity was the procurement of the vast quantities of supplies that the regiment needed. For raw materials, the army purchased what it could locally, and imported the rest from elsewhere. The men of ''I Hispanorum veterana'' went as far afield (from Moesia Inferior) as Gaul to procure clothing and grain.''Renuntia'' displayed in Goldsworthy (2003), p.145 For manufactured goods, the regiments would produce some of their needs themselves e.g. evidence of leather-tanning and beer-brewing at Vindolanda and nearby Catterick fort. The tablets attest the procurement of cereals, beer, animal fodder; manufactured goods such as clothing, nails and vehicle parts; raw materials such as stone, iron, lead, timber, animal hides.


Military duties

Routine military duties included patrolling, guard-duty, and weapons training. These were not limited to the regiment's base fort and its vicinity only: the Vindolanda tablets show that detachments of the unit could be deployed in several different locations at once: one ''renuntia'' shows a detachment of nearly half the effectives of ''cohors I Tungrorum'' deployed at another fort.Vindolanda Tablet 154 A papyrus ''renuntia'' for ''cohors I Hispanorum veterana equitata'' in Moesia Inferior (AD 105) reports a cavalry ''turma'' on a scouting mission (''exploratum'') across the Danube.Davies (1988), p.146 As in today's armies, each day would begin with a roll-call parade (probably called a ''numeratio''). Soldiers were kept at a high level of physical fitness by daily exercises and marches typically every 10 days, as well as regular, full-scale training-manoeuvres and mock-skirmishes. The latter would often be inspected by a high military official: the ''legatus legionis'', the provincial governor, or even the emperor himself. Some forts contained drill-halls, permitting all-weather training. Combat-training and exercises were a central part of a soldier's weekly routine. One tablet probably contains a scathing report by an officer (himself probably a Rhineland German) about the progress of young local trainee cavalrymen in the ''cohors equitata'': "on horseback, too many of the pathetic little Brits (''Brittunculi'') cannot swing their swords or throw their javelins without losing their balance". Parades were another important part of a regiment's routine. Occasional parades included religious rites and purely military parades such as the ''Rosalia (festival), rosaliae signorum'' (decoration of the standards) and ''demissio'', when veterans were discharged after completing their term of service and awarded their diplomas of Roman citizenship. Communications between forts, legionary fortresses and the provincial capital were critical. Despatch-riders (''dispositi''), normally ''equites cohortales'', were stationed at ''mutationes'' (road-side stations where horses could be changed) to form relays to carry messages rapidly. Relays of fresh riders and horses, careering at full gallop, could maintain an average speed of 20 miles per hour (32 km/h). Thus an urgent despatch from the legionary base at ''Eboracum'' (York) to the provincial governor's headquarters in London, a distance of 200 miles (300 km), a journey of about ten days for a single rider and mount, could be delivered in just ten hours. When messages were even more urgent, visual signals were used. Strings of signal-stations in prominent locations would transmit messages using parabolic mirrors during the day and fire by night.


Police duties

Off-site duties included many routine police and even administrative tasks. Provincial governors had only a minimal administrative staff at their disposal, and no regular police force. They therefore relied on their troops for many such duties e.g. escorting the governor or other senior officials, patrolling Roman roads, highways, assisting and escorting tax collectors and military supply wagons, carrying official despatches, arresting wanted men. Thus a ''renuntia'' shows a detachment of 46 men of ''I Tungrorum'' on escort duty (''singulares'') with the provincial governor's staff. Highways were routinely garrisoned and patrolled along their entire length. Small detachments of troops would be on duty at the way-stations: ''mutationes'' and ''mansiones'' (large wayside inns, with accommodation, stables, taverna and baths). These stations may well be the six unidentified locations where small detachments of c. 10 men, each under a centurion, were deployed according to a ''renuntia'' of ''cohors I Tungrorum''. Troops on highway duty would check the identities and cargoes of road users as well as escort the vehicles of the ''
cursus publicus The ''cursus publicus'' (Latin language, Latin: "the public way"; , ''dēmósios drómos'') was the state mandated and supervised courier and transportation service of the Roman Empire, the use of which continued into the Eastern Roman Empi ...
'' (imperial transport service). This service was concerned with the transportation of official personnel and payloads: senior officials, tax revenues and wages for the troops, military supplies (usually conveyed in convoys of ox-drawn wagons) and official post. Such vehicles, especially the money-cars, were vulnerable to highway robbers e.g. one ''eques'' (cavalryman) of ''I Hispanorum veterana'' was reported killed by robbers in a ''renuntia''. Troops would also assist agents of the ''Procurator (Roman fiscal), procurator'' (the senior financial official in the province) to collect the ''portorium'', an imperial toll on the carriage of goods on public roads, payable whenever the goods crossed a toll-line.


Construction

The most important non-military activity of the Roman army was construction. The army was a large workforce of fit, disciplined men which also comprised hundreds of skilled craftsmen. Troops were on regular salaries anyway, so it was cheaper for the government to use them for building projects, if the security situation in the province allowed, than to hire private contractors. In fact, soldiers spent far more of their working lives on building-sites than on campaign and it would not be a huge exaggeration to describe an imperial legion as an armed construction-gang. Soldiers built their own forts and fortifications and other military facilities e.g.
Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...
itself was built by the army. But they also built up much of a province's Roman infrastructure: trunk Roman roads, bridges, docks, canals, Roman aqueduct, aqueducts, entire new cities such as ''coloniae'' for veteran legionaries, public buildings (e.g. basilicas and amphitheatres). The army also carried out large-scale projects to increase the land available for agriculture, such as forest clearance and draining marshes (e.g. the large-scale drainage of the The Fens, Fens in eastern England, which were probably developed as a huge Roman imperial estate, imperial estate). The army also excavated many of the mines and quarries that produced the raw materials it needed for weapons and armour manufacture and for construction. Soldiers would supervise the slave-gangs that generally worked the mines, or mine themselves at times of urgent demand. Most of the available evidence relates to legionary construction. The several construction-scenes on Trajan's Column show only legionaries working, with auxiliaries standing guard around them. On Hadrian's Wall, legionary stamps only have been found on building-materials, with no evidence of auxiliary involvement. Birley suggests that auxiliaries may have been used to excavate the ''vallum'', a large ditch which runs parallel to the Wall, and thus would not have left stamps on building-materials. But it is also possible that auxiliary regiments were tasked with maintaining security on the border during construction. However, the Vindolanda tablets attest to construction activity by auxiliaries e.g. one tablet refers to 12 soldiers detailed to work on the construction of a bath-house (''balneum'') at Vindolanda. Another possibly refers to the construction of a bridge elsewhere.


Social life

All the Vindolanda documents are written by officers, supporting the view that many of the lower ranks may have been illiterate.Goldsworthy (2003), p.73 The language used is always Latin, usually of a reasonable standard. Most of the authors were Gauls, Britons or Germans, whose native languages were Celtic or Germanic, yet they wrote even to their relatives in Latin. This does not mean that they could no longer speak their native tongues, simply that those tongues never developed a written form. The tablets show that the commanding officer was addressed as ''domine'' ("master" or "lord", due to his equestrian rank) and soldiers of the same rank as ''frater'' ("brother") or ''collega'' ("comrade"). The letters show that an auxiliary soldier maintained friendships not just in his own regiment, but also in other regiments and even in the legions. Hunting was a favourite leisure activity, for the officers at least. It was more strenuous, dangerous and required far greater skill than today due to the lack of firearms: prey had to be brought down with arrows or spears.


Religion

Roman religion was polytheism, polytheistic and therefore readily accepted and absorbed many deities of the empire's subjects, the vast majority of whose cultures were also polytheistic. But there were limits: the Romans forbade cults whose beliefs or practices were considered incompatible with the basic tenets of Roman religion. For example, the Romans proscribed cults that practised human sacrifice, which was partly the reason why Druidism was banned under the emperor Tiberius (political considerations were also involved, namely that Druids were suspected of orchestrating native resistance to Roman rule in Gaul).Pliny the Elder XXX.4 Also banned was
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
, ''de facto'' initially, as membership of the Christian church was not prohibited formally until the rule of Septimius Severus (197-211). A monotheistic religion, its followers refused to participate in the Imperial cult (ancient Rome), imperial cult, the worship of the ''imagines'' (cult portraits or statues) of ruling and past emperors. The cult was used by the Romans in the same way as an oath of allegiance is used by modern societies, as an affirmation of loyalty to the state. It was compulsory for all ''peregrini'' to make burnt sacrifice to the image of the ruling emperor at least once (certificates were issued to prove compliance). Refusal was considered treasonous and was punishable by death. Christians were also widely suspected, through a misunderstanding of baptism and the eucharist, of practicing clandestine ritual murder of infants (by drowning) and Human cannibalism, cannibalism respectively, violating two more Roman taboos. In theory, soldiers were only permitted to honour such non-Roman gods as had been officially approved by the ''College of Pontiffs, collegium pontificum'' ("Board of High Priests") in Rome, which regulated the state religion. The board would assess whether a foreign cult was acceptable. If so, by the process of ''interpretatio romana'', a non-Roman god was officially annexed to a Roman god on the basis of shared characteristics ''e.g.'' Mars (mythology), Mars Toutatis, Toutates, the assimilation of a Gallic deity to the Roman god of war. In practice, off-duty soldiers were allowed to follow whatever cults they pleased, providing they were not specifically prohibited. Many surviving military dedications, especially those offered by the lower ranks, are to non-Roman deities alone. Soldiers were, however, required to participate in a number of official Roman religious rites held by their regiment at regular times in the year. These included religious parades in honour of the most important Roman gods, especially Jupiter (mythology), Jupiter, the supreme god of the Roman pantheon: many altars and Roman military tombstones, tombstones dedicated by the military are headed with the letters IOM (''Iovi Optimo Maximo'': "to Jupiter the Best and Greatest"); Mars, the god of war; and Minerva, a goddess also associated with war. These parades were probably accompanied by animal sacrifices and feasting. Another important regimental cult was emperor-worship. Parades were held on imperial birthdays, when the ''imagines'' of the ruling emperor and of deified previous emperors would be saluted and offered sacrifices by the prefect of the regiment. Outside of the regimental ceremonies, soldiers revered a vast array of deities. These can be divided into three categories: Roman gods; their own native gods, such as the Thracian horseman, Thracian Heros, which is often represented on the tombstones of Thracian veterans as a mounted warrior spearing a beast (or man) on the ground; and the local gods of the province in which they served, such as the cult of Coventina in Britain. Coventina was a British nymph associated with springs. Several dedications to her have been found e.g. those offered by the garrison of the auxiliary fort at Carrawburgh (on Hadrian's Wall). From the 2nd century onwards, Eastern
mystery cult Mystery religions, mystery cults, sacred mysteries or simply mysteries (), were religious schools of the Greco-Roman world for which participation was reserved to initiates ''(mystai)''. The main characteristic of these religious schools was th ...
s, centred on a single deity (though not necessarily monotheistic) and based on sacred truths revealed only to the initiated, spread widely in the empire, as polytheism underwent a gradual, and ultimately terminal, decline. One such cult, that of Sol Invictus ("The Invincible Sun"), was designated as the official army-cult by the emperor Aurelian (r. 270–5) and remained such until the time of
Constantine I Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...
(r. 312–37). However, by far the most popular among the Roman military was Mithraic Mysteries, Mithraism, centred on a deity called Mithras. The mainstream view is that this originated in the Persian cult of Mithra, but the salient features of the Roman cult are absent in the Avesta and other Iranian evidence. It is thus possible that the Roman cult was not connected to the Iranian (except perhaps that the deity's name was borrowed) and instead originated in the eastern provinces of the empire itself, most likely in Phrygia. Mithraism was probably a medley of elements from various cults – hence its apparent adoption of a Persian deity-name, of the ''taurobolium'' ritual from the cult of Cybele, and of the Phrygian cap. Based on secret initiation ceremonies and rites, this cult is attested, for example, by the discovery of a Mithraeum (Mithraic temple) at Carrawburgh fort near Hadrian's Wall. Membership, according to the written evidence of dedications in Nida (Heddernheim (Frankfurt am Main), Heddernheim), was not restricted according to social standing. Christianity, as a prohibited cult, was much less common amongst the military until it was legalised, and indeed favoured, by Constantine I in the early 4th century. Nevertheless, it probably had some clandestine followers in the military during the 2nd and 3rd centuries, especially in the East, where it had spread widely. The discovery of a Christian house church with the earliest Christian paintings extant (early 3rd century) at the fortress town of Dura-Europos in Syria may indicate a Christian element in that town's garrison.


Sources

Except for the early 1st century, the literary evidence for the Principate period is surprisingly thin, due to the loss of a large number of contemporary historical works. From the point of view of the imperial army, the most useful sources are: firstly, works by the general Julius Caesar, Caius Julius Caesar, ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' and ''Commentarii de Bello Civili'', covering his Gallic War, conquest of Gaul (58-50 BC) and his Caesar's civil war, civil war against rival general Pompey (49-48 BC), respectively. Strictly speaking, these wars pre-date the army's imperial period (which started in 30 BC), but Caesar's detailed accounts are close enough in time to provide a wealth of information about organisation and tactics still relevant to the imperial legions. Secondly, works by the imperial-era historian
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...
, writing around AD 100. These are the ''
Annales Annals are a concise form of historical writing which record events chronologically, year by year. The equivalent word in Latin and French is ''annales'', which is used untranslated in English in various contexts. List of works with titles contai ...
'', a chronicle of the
Julio-Claudian The Julio-Claudian dynasty comprised the first five Roman emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. This line of emperors ruled the Roman Empire, from its formation (under Augustus, in 27 BC) until the last of the line, Emper ...
era from the death of the founder-emperor
Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...
to that of
Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...
(AD 14–68). Even this suffers from large gaps, amounting to about a third of the original; the ''Histories (Tacitus), Historiae'' was the sequel to the ''Annales'', bringing the chronicle up to the death of
Domitian Domitian ( ; ; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was Roman emperor from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavian dynasty. Described as "a r ...
(AD 96), of which only the first part, a detailed account of the Year of the Four Emperors, Civil War of 68-9 survives; and the ''Agricola (book), Agricola'', a biography of Tacitus' own father-in-law,
Gnaeus Julius Agricola Gnaeus Julius Agricola (; 13 June 40 – 23 August 93) was a Roman general and politician responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Britain. Born to a political family of senatorial rank, Agricola began his military career as a military tribu ...
, who as governor of Britain (AD 78–85) attempted to subjugate
Caledonia Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the forested region in the central and western Scottish Highlands, particularly stretching through parts of what are now Lochaber, Badenoch, Strathspey, and possibly as ...
(Scotland) to Roman rule. The third important literary source is ''De Re Militari'', a treatise on Roman military practices by Vegetius, written c. 400. This contains much useful material relating to the Principate period, but the author's statements are undated and sometimes unreliable. Also useful are: ''The Jewish War'' by
Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...
, an eyewitness account of the First Jewish revolt of AD 66–70 by one of the Jewish commanders who defected to the Romans after he was captured; the essay ''Acies contra Alanos'' (''Ektaxis kata Alanon'') by the Greek author
Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; ; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander, and philosopher of the Roman period. '' The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best source on the campaigns of ...
, who was imperial governor of Cappadocia (Roman province), Cappadocia in AD 135-8: this describes a campaign led by the author to repel an invasion of his province by the Alans, an Iranian people of the Caucasus region. But most Roman historians present only a very limited picture of the imperial army's affairs, as they describe only military campaigns and say little about the army's organisation, logistics and the daily lives of the troops. Fortunately, the thin and fragmentary literary evidence has been complemented by a vast mass of inscription and archaeological evidence. The imperial army was a highly bureaucratised institution. Meticulous financial records were kept by units' ''cornicularii'' (book-keepers). Detailed records were kept on all individual soldiers and there is evidence of filing systems. Even minor matters such as soldiers' requests to their ''praefectus'' for leave (''commeatus'') had to be submitted in writing. From the evidence discovered at Vindolanda, a fort near
Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...
, it can be deduced that the Roman garrison in the province of Britain alone generated tens of millions of documents. However, only an infinitesimal fraction of this vast documentation has survived, due to organic decomposition of the writing-medium (wooden and wax-tablets and papyrus). The only region of the empire where the army's documentation has survived in significant quantities is Egypt, where exceptionally dry conditions have prevented decomposition. Egyptian papyri are thus a crucial source for the army's internal organisation and life. The Vindolanda tablets, documents inscribed on wooden tablets and preserved by unusual anoxic conditions, are a rare corpus of army documents from the north-western part of the Empire. They consist of a series of letters and memoranda between officers of three auxiliary regiments stationed in succession at Vindolanda AD 85–122. They provide a valuable glimpse of the real lives and activities of the garrison of an auxiliary fort.Mattingly (2006), p.162 A large corpus of inscription evidence has been preserved on inorganic materials such as metal or stone. Of outstanding importance are the bas-reliefs on monuments erected by emperors to record their victorious wars. The most notable example is Trajan's Column in Rome. Erected in 112 to celebrate the Emperor
Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...
's successful Trajan's Dacian Wars, conquest of Dacia (101–7), the reliefs provide the most comprehensive and detailed portrayal of Roman military equipment and practice extant. Other examples include imperial triumphal arches (see List of Roman triumphal arches). Another major source on stone is the extensive corpus of recovered Roman military tombstones, tombstones of Roman soldiers. These often carry reliefs showing the subject in full combat dress plus inscriptions containing a summary of his career (age, units served, ranks held). Also important are dedications of votive altars by military personnel, which shed light on the dedicator's religious beliefs. In the case of both tombstones and altars, officers are disproportionately represented, due to the substantial expense of such monuments. Notable metal documents are
Roman military diploma A Roman military diploma was a document inscribed in bronze certifying that the holder was honourably discharged from the Roman armed forces and/or had received the grant of Roman citizenship from the emperor as reward for service. The diploma ...
s. A diploma was a bronze tablet issued, between c. AD 50 and 212 (when all free inhabitants of the empire were granted Roman citizenship) to an auxiliary soldier on completion of his 25-year term of service to prove the award of citizenship to the holder and his family. A particular advantage of diplomas for historians is that they are accurately datable. Diplomas also normally list the names of several auxiliary units which served in the same province at the same time, critical data on the deployment of auxiliary units in the various provinces of the Empire at different times. Also usually recorded are: beneficiary's regiment, regimental commander's name, beneficiary's military rank, name of beneficiary, name of beneficiary's father and origin (nation, tribe or city); name of beneficiary's wife and name of her father and origin; and names of children granted citizenship. Over 800 diplomas have been recovered, although most in a fragmentary state. (Even these, however, represent an infinitesimal fraction of the hundreds of thousands of diplomas which must have been issued. Apart from natural corrosion, the main reason for this low recovery rate is that, prior due to the late 19th century, when their historical value was recognised, diplomas were almost invariably melted down when found in order to recover their copper content – indeed most were probably melted down in the period following 212). Finally, a mass of information has been uncovered by archaeological excavation of imperial military sites: legionary fortresses, auxiliary forts, marching-camps and other facilities such as signal-stations. A prime example is Vindolanda fort itself, where excavations began in the 1930s and continue in 2012 (under the grandson of the first director, Eric Birley). Such excavations have uncovered details of the lay-out and facilities of military sites and remains of military equipment.


See also

*
Roman army The Roman army () served ancient Rome and the Roman people, enduring through the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC), the Roman Republic (509–27 BC), and the Roman Empire (27 BC–AD 1453), including the Western Roman Empire (collapsed Fall of the W ...
* Auxilia * Campaign history of the Roman military * Equestrian order * Structural history of the Roman military * Auxiliaries in Britain (Roman military) * List of Roman auxiliary regiments * List of Roman legions * Veteran (Roman history)


Notes


Citations


References

*
Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; ; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander, and philosopher of the Roman period. '' The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best source on the campaigns of ...
''Acies contra Alanos'' (c. AD 140) * Julius Caesar, Caesar ''De Bello Gallico'' (c. 50 BC) * Dio Cassius ''Roman History'' (c. AD 240) * Livy ''Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Livy), Ab urbe condita'' (c. AD 20) *
Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is ''De vita Caesarum'', common ...
''De Vita Caesarum'' (c. AD 120) *
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...
''Agricola (book), Agricola'' (c. AD 100) *
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...
''
Annales Annals are a concise form of historical writing which record events chronologically, year by year. The equivalent word in Latin and French is ''annales'', which is used untranslated in English in various contexts. List of works with titles contai ...
'' (c. AD 100) *
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...
''Histories (Tacitus), Historiae'' (c. AD 100) * Vegetius ''De Re Militari'' (c. AD 390) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


''Roman Legionary AD 69-161''

''Roman Guardsman 62 BC - AD 324''List of auxiliary units in BritainVindolanda Tablets Online
{{Ancient Rome topics Military of ancient Rome